A kinetic study of the oxidation of methanol using shock tube and computer simulation techniques

✍ Scribed by Peter H. Cribb; John E. Dove; Satoshi Yamazaki

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 999 KB
• Volume: 88
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(92)90051-p

✦ Synopsis

The reaction of methanol with oxygen is studied by shock tube techniques at 1800-2800 K in five gas mixtures ranging in composition from lean to rich. Measurements are made by laser schlieren densitometry and dynamic mass spectrometry. At high temperatures, the shock-wave-initiated reaction consists qualitatively of two steps. In the first step, methanol decomposes with very little consumption of oxygen, forming H2, radicals, and some stable products (CO and H20 ). In the second step, the H 2/02 reaction takes place accompanied, especially in lean mixtures, by the oxidation of CO. At the lower end of the temperature range of the measurements, the two steps tend to merge. A comprehensive mechanism based on literature data and the present experiments is proposed and used to interpret the experimental results by detailed computer simulation. Sensitivity analysis is used to identify a set of seven elementary reactions to whose rate constants the results are most sensitive: