A structural study of methaneacetonitrileoxygen diffusion flames diluted with argon

✍ Scribed by D. Crowhurst; R.F. Simmons

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 589 KB
• Volume: 59
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(85)90022-7

✦ Synopsis

Composition profiles have been obtained through some methane-oxygen-argon diffusion flames, in which acetonitrile was added to the fuel, to obtain mechanistic information about the formation of NOx from fuels which contain chemically bound nitrogen. These profiles show that decomposition of acetonitrile is an important process on the fuel side of the flame and that nitric oxide is primarily formed in a region on the oxygen side of the main reaction zone. Diffusion of nitric oxide back into the main reaction zone and pyrolysis region leads to the occurrence of reactions between nitric oxide and nitrogen-containing radicals, with the result that a major part of the fuel-nitrogen is converted to molecular nitrogen in this region. It follows that the overall conversion of fuel-nitrogen to NOx in a diffusion flame is controlled by several closely interlocked competing processes, and the nature of these processes is discussed.