Emission, Structure and Optical Properties of Overfire Soot from Buoyant Turbulent Diffusion Flames

Abstract

The present study investigated soot and carbon monoxide emissions, and evaluated the optical properties of soot, in the overfire region of buoyant turbulent diffusion flames burning in still air. Soot and carbon monoxide emissions, and the corresponding correlation between these emissions, were studied experimentally. The optical properties of soot were investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The experiments involved gas (acetylene, propylene, ethylene, propane, methane) and liquid (toluene, benzene, n-heptane, iso-propanol, ethanol, methanol) fuels. The investigation was limited to the fuel-lean (overfire) region of buoyant turbulent diffusion flames burning in still air. Measurements included flame heights, characteristic flame residence times, carbon monoxide and soot concentrations, mixture fractions, ex-situ soot structure parameters (primary particle sizes, number of primary particles in aggregates, fractal dimensions), and in-situ optical cross sections (differential scattering, total scattering, and absorption) of soot in the overfire region of buoyant turbulent diffusion flames, emphasizing conditions in the long residence time regime where these properties are independent of position in the overfire region and flame residence time. The predictions of optical cross sections for polydisperse aggregates were based on Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory for fractal aggregates; the predictions of this theory were evaluated by combining the TEM structure and the light scattering/extinction measurements. Carbon monoxide concentrations and mixture fractions were correlated in the overfire region of gas- and liquid -fueled turbulent diffusion flames. Soot volume fraction state relationships were observed for liquid fuels, supporting earlier observations for gas fuels. A strong correlation between carbon monoxide and soot concentrations was established in the fuel-lean region of both gas- and liquid-fueled turbulent diffusion flames. The structure and emission properties of soot were found to be invariant with respect to both position and flame residence time in the long residence time regime, implying useful generalizations of soot properties in the overfire region of turbulent diffusion flames. The optical cross sections of soot aggregates were found to be in good agreement with the polydisperse fractal Rayleigh -Debye-Gans theory, except in the near forward scattering direction where multiple scattering effects appear to be most important. However, the region where multiple scattering effects were important was limited for overfire soot, and had little effect on total scattering cross sections.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Comments

Thesis/Dissertation

Keywords and Phrases

Turbulent Diffusion Flame

Document Type

Book

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1992 The University of Michigan, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 1992

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