Accession Number:

ADA076958

Title:

Chemistry of Combustion of Fuel-Water Mixtures.

Descriptive Note:

Final technical rept.,

Corporate Author:

ATLANTIC RESEARCH CORP ALEXANDRIA VA

Personal Author(s):

• McHale ,E. T.
• Skolnik,E. G.

Report Date:

1979-10-01

Pagination or Media Count:

50.0

Abstract:

An experimental flame study is reported of the nonphysical processes that lead to soot suppression when water is added to fuel. In practical systems water, emulsified into liquid fuels, reduces soot physically by producing improved atomization and also chemically by altering some soot formation process. To investigate the chemical aspects alone, a gaseous laminar diffusion flame was used, which type of system eliminated the physical part of the process. A flame structure study was performed in which complete chemical species, temperature and soot profiles were measured through flames with and without water added. A flame with added nitrogen was also mapped for comparison purposes. The study to date is somewhat incomplete however, the following result can be reported. It appears that soot reduction by water addition is a results of a lowering of temperature throughout the dark zone of a diffusion flame with accompanying reduction in soot formation rates. Water is more effective in this respect than equivalent amounts of nitrogen, leading to the conclusion that water has a chemical inhibiting effect on some exothermic reactions early in the flame, in addition to its thermal effect.

Descriptors:

• *WATER
• *MIXTURES
• *COMBUSTION
• *FUELS
• *FLAME FUELS
• THERMAL PROPERTIES
• MEASUREMENT
• SOOT
• RATES
• CRYSTALLIZATION
• CARBON
• NITROGEN
• COMBUSTION DEPOSITS
• OXIDATION
• HYDROCARBONS
• AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
• DIFFUSION
• FLAMES
• CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
• EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS
• SUPPRESSION
• ATOMIZATION

Subject Categories:

• Organic Chemistry
• Combustion and Ignition
• Fuels

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE