Particulate Matter and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Determination using a Well-stirred Reactor (Postprint)
Abstract
Combustion generated particulates from gas turbine combustors can cause adverse effects on engine maintenance costs, plume visibility and the environment. Research is being conducted to provide understanding of the mechanisms of soot formation and identify mitigation strategies. A cooled well-stirred reactor (WSR), which simulates the primary zone of a gas turbine combustor, is used in the current study. Experiments have been completed with premixed, fuel-rich (1.9 < 0 < 2.6) ethylene-air andethylene-ethanol-air mixtures. Multiple physical characteristics, including particle number density, particle size distribution, total carbon mass, and (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) PAH content, were used to quantify the soot. A unique instrument, the Particulate Matter Characterization and Monitoring System (PMCMS), was used for the determination of the particle size distribution, and the chemical characterization of the soot and gaseous emissions. The results of the study showed that the benzene concentration in the gas phase increased monotonically with equivalence ratio while the pyrene was shown to correlate with the soot content. The results suggest that pyrene and other PAH species can be used to predict the soot formation for more complex combustion systems.For the conditions of the present study, the addition of ethanol to ethylene was shown to lower soot production compared to pure ethylene.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 06, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA595982
Entities
People
- C. W. Frayne
- H. T. Mayfield
- J. Zelina
- R. F. Reich
- Scott Stouffer
- V. R. Katta
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory