Book Description

This project is concerned with the kinetics and mechanisms of aromatics oxidation and soot and fullerenes formation in flames. The scope includes detailed measurements of profiles of stable and radical species concentrations in low-pressure one-dimensional premixed flames. Intermediate species identifications and mole fractions, fluxes, and net reaction rates calculated from the measured profiles are used to test postulated reaction mechanisms. Particular objectives are to identify, and to confirm or determine rate constants for, the main benzene oxidation reactions in flames, and to characterize soot and fullerenes and their formation mechanisms and kinetics. Stable and radical species profiles in the aromatics oxidation study are measured using molecular beam sampling with on-line mass spectrometry. The rate of soot formation measured by conventional optical techniques is found to support the hypotheses that particle inception occurs through reactive coagulation of high molecular weight PAH in competition with destruction by OHattack, and that the subsequent growth of the soot mass occurs through addition reactions of PAH and C2H2 with the soot particles. During the first year of this reporting period, fullerenes C60 and C--0 in substantial quantities were found in the flames being studied. The fullerenes were recovered, purified and spectroscopically identified. The yields of C60 and C--0 were then determined over ranges of conditions in low-pressure premixed flames of benzene and oxygen.