The quenching of O2(b1Σ +g) at high temperatures. Kinetics, sensitivity analysis and corrections

Abstract

The kinetic scheme in which O₂(b¹Σ⁺_g) is formed by the energy-pooling reaction and removed by quenchers has been extended to include the reverse step of the quenching reaction in order to account for the results obtained previously for efficient quenchers of O₂(b¹Σ⁺_g) at high temperatures. The analysis shows that the previous results needed correction and, when this is done, it is found that the rate constants for the quenching of O₂(b¹Σ⁺_g) by CO₂, N₂O, NH₃ and NO are independent of temperature between 300 and 1200 K and do not decrease at high temperatures as previously reported. The rate constant of the energy-pooling reaction is well determined up to 1200 K, but there is doubt about the values above 1300 K. A sensitivity analysis has also been made of the analytical procedure used to evaluate the parameters in each experiment. It indicates that the method is valid and that it yields reliable numerical results.