Butyl Acetate Pyrolysis and Combustion Chemistry: Mechanism Generation and Shock Tube Experiments.

The combustion and pyrolysis behaviors of light esters and fatty acid methyl esters have been widely studied due to their relevance as biofuel and fuel additives. However, a knowledge gap exists for midsize alkyl acetates, especially ones with long alkoxyl groups. Butyl acetate, in particular, is a promising biofuel with its economic and robust production possibilities and ability to enhance blendstock performance and reduce soot formation. However, it is little studied from both experimental and modeling aspects. This work created detailed oxidation mechanisms for the four butyl acetate isomers (normal-, sec-, tert-, and iso-butyl acetate) at temperatures varying from 650 to 2000 K and pressures up to 100 atm using the Reaction Mechanism Generator. About 60% of species in each model have thermochemical parameters from published data or in-house quantum calculations, including fuel molecules and intermediate combustion products. Kinetics of essential primary reactions, retro-ene and hydrogen atom abstraction by OH or HO2, governing the fuel oxidation pathways, were also calculated quantum-mechanically. Simulation of the developed mechanisms indicates that the majority of the fuel will decompose into acetic acid and relevant butenes at elevated temperatures, making their ignition behaviors similar to butenes. The adaptability of the developed models to high-temperature pyrolysis systems was tested against newly collected high-pressure shock experiments; the simulated CO mole fraction time histories have a reasonable agreement with the laser measurement in the shock tube. This work reveals the high-temperature oxidation chemistry of butyl acetates and demonstrates the validity of predictive models for biofuel chemistry established on accurate thermochemical and kinetic parameters.

Measuring the effectiveness of high-performance Co-Optima biofuels on suppressing soot formation at high temperature.

Soot emissions in combustion are unwanted consequences of burning hydrocarbon fuels. The presence of soot during and following combustion processes is an indication of incomplete combustion and has several negative consequences including the emission of harmful particulates and increased operational costs. Efforts have been made to reduce soot production in combustion engines through utilizing oxygenated biofuels in lieu of traditional nonoxygenated feedstocks. The ongoing Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) initiative from the US Department of Energy (DOE) is focused on accelerating the introduction of affordable, scalable, and sustainable biofuels and high-efficiency, low-emission vehicle engines. The Co-Optima program has identified a handful of biofuel compounds from a list of thousands of potential candidates. In this study, a shock tube was used to evaluate the performance of soot reduction of five high-performance biofuels downselected by the Co-Optima program. Current experiments were performed at test conditions between 1,700 and 2,100 K and 4 and 4.7 atm using shock tube and ultrafast, time-resolve laser absorption diagnostic techniques. The combination of shock heating and nonintrusive laser detection provides a state-of-the-art test platform for high-temperature soot formation under engine conditions. Soot reduction was found in ethanol, cyclopentanone, and methyl acetate; conversely, an α-diisobutylene and methyl furan produced more soot compared to the baseline over longer test times. For each biofuel, several reaction pathways that lead towards soot production were identified. The data collected in these experiments are valuable information for the future of renewable biofuel development and their applicability in engines.

Selective terahertz absorber for angle and polarization-independent spectral sensing.

Polarization- and incident-angle-independent narrow-band terahertz (THz) absorbers were developed to enable THz imaging, radar, and spectroscopy applications. The design comprises a transparent fused silica (SiOx) substrate backed by an optically thick metal layer and topped by a periodic array of metal cross patterns. Finite element analysis (FEA) simulations optimized the geometry of devices fabricated by contact photolithography. Resonances were characterized by Fourier-transform reflectance spectroscopy. The design tunable absorption bands appeared in the range 50-200 cm-1 (1.5-6 THz) with full widths at half maximum of 20-56 cm-1 (0.6-1.68 THz). Maximum absorption was -8.5 to -16.8 dB. The absorption bands are independent of incidence angle and polarization in agreement with simulation.

Laser-induced fluorescence thermometry of supercritical CO2 flows inside a micro-channel.

This work demonstrates a thermometric technique using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) in supercritical carbon dioxide flows in a micro-channel. Rhodamine 6G was used as a temperature-sensitive fluorescent dye. The flow conditions were at a pressure of 7.9 MPa and temperature in the range of 23°-90°C. 2D spatial distributions and time-resolved temperature profiles were obtained at this high pressure. Measured LIF signals showed close relations to the temperatures obtained from resistance temperature detectors.

Acousto-optically modulated quantum cascade laser for high-temperature reacting systems thermometry.

We demonstrate time-resolved temperature measurements in shock-heated mixtures of carbon monoxide over a temperature range of 1000-1800 K for two pressure ranges, 2.0-2.9 atm and 7.6-10.7 atm, at rates up to 250 kHz using a single acousto-optically modulated quantum cascade laser with mid-infrared output spanning from 1975 to 2260 cm-1. Measured temperatures were in excellent agreement with values determined by ideal shock relations, and the temperature profile after the passage of the reflected shock wave was found to be well-modeled by an isentropic compression assumption. Temperature measurements made with this setup are largely immune to effects of emissions and beam steering, making the diagnostic system well-suited for studying high-temperature gas-phase reactions of energetic materials such as octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine.

Theoretical Calculation of Reaction Rates and Combustion Kinetic Modeling Study of Triethyl Phosphate (TEP).

Triethyl phosphate (TEP) is an organophosphorus compound used as a simulant for highly toxic nerve agents such as sarin GB. A high temperature decomposition pathway during TEP pyrolysis has been proposed previously and takes place via seven concerted elimination reactions. A computational study to investigate the kinetics of these seven reactions was carried out at the CBS-QB3 level of theory. The transition state optimization was done at the B3LYP/6-311G(2d,d,p) theory level, and CanTherm was used to derive the Arrhenius coefficients. The pre-exponential factors of the rate constant of these reactions were found to be up to 50 times lower than the estimated values from the literature. In addition, kinetics of reaction of the trioxidophosphorus radical (PO3) with H2 (H2 + PO3 → HOPO2 + H), which is one of the important reactions in predicting CO formation during TEP decomposition, was also investigated computationally at the same theory level. The new kinetic parameters derived from the computational study were used with the TEP kinetic model proposed recently by our group. In addition, an alternative decomposition pathway for TEP decomposition via H-abstraction, radical decomposition, and recombination reactions was added. The proposed mechanism was validated with the literature's experimental data, that is, intermediate CO time-history data from pyrolysis and oxidation experiments and ignition delay times. Fairly good agreement with experiments was obtained for pyrolysis and oxidation CO yield within 1200-1700 K. The model was able to predict the ignition times of the rich TEP mixture (φ = 2) within 25% of the experimental results, while the discrepancies for stoichiometric and rich mixtures were larger. Discussions on results of sensitivity and reaction pathway analysis are presented to identify the important phosphorus reactions and to understand the effect of addition of the alternative TEP decomposition pathway.

Molecular Dynamics of Combustion Reactions in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide. Part 5: Computational Study of Ethane Dissociation and Recombination Reactions C2H6 ⇌ CH3 + CH3.

Fossil fuel oxy-combustion is an emerging technology where the habitual nitrogen diluent is replaced by high-pressure supercritical CO2 (sCO2), which increases the efficiency of energy conversion. In this study, the chemical kinetics of the combustion reaction C2H6 ⇌ CH3 + CH3 in the sCO2 environment is predicted at 30-1000 atm and 1000-2000 K. We adopt a multiscale approach, where the reactive complex is treated quantum mechanically in rigid rotor/harmonic oscillator approximation, while environment effects at different densities are taken into account by the potential of mean force, produced with classical molecular dynamics (MD). Here, we used boxed MD, where enhanced sampling of infrequent events of barrier crossing is accomplished without application of the bias potential. The multistate empirical valence bond model is applied to describe free radical formation accurately at the cost of the classical force field. Predicted rates at low densities agree well with the literature data. Rate constants at 300 atm are 2.41 × 1014 T-0.20 exp(-77.03 kcal/mol/ RT) 1/s for ethane dissociation and 8.44 × 10-19 T1.42 exp(19.89 kcal/mol/ RT) cm3/molecule/s for methyl-methyl recombination.

Molecular Dynamics of Combustion Reactions in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide. 6. Computational Kinetics of Reactions between Hydrogen Atom and Oxygen Molecule H + O2 ⇌ HO + O and H + O2 ⇌ HO2.

Reactions of the hydrogen atom and the oxygen molecule are among the most important ones in the hydrogen and hydrocarbon oxidation mechanisms, including combustion in a supercritical CO2 (sCO2) environment, known as oxy-combustion or the Allam cycle. Development of these energy technologies requires understanding of chemical kinetics of H + O2 ⇌ HO + O and H + O2 ⇌ HO2 in high pressures and concentrations of CO2. Here, we combine quantum treatment of the reaction system by the transition state theory with classical molecular dynamics simulation and the multistate empirical valence bonding method to treat environmental effects. Potential of mean force in the sCO2 solvent at various temperatures 1000-2000 K and pressures 100-400 atm was obtained. The reaction rate for H + O2 ⇌ HO + O was found to be pressure-independent and described by the extended Arrhenius equation 4.23 × 10-7 T-0.73 exp(-21 855.2 cal/mol/RT) cm3/molecule/s, while the reaction rate H + O2 ⇌ HO2 is pressure-dependent and can be expressed as 5.22 × 10-2 T-2.86 exp(-7247.4 cal/mol/RT) cm3/molecule/s at 300 atm.

Molecular Dynamics Study of Combustion Reactions in Supercritical Environment. Part 3: Boxed MD Study of CH3 + HO2 → CH3O + OH Reaction Kinetics.

The kinetics of reaction CH3 + HO2 → CH3O + OH in supercritical carbon dioxide media at pressures from 0.3 to 1000 atm in the temperature range (600-1600) K was studied using boxed molecular dynamics simulations at QM/MM theory level with periodical boundary conditions. The mechanism of this process includes two consecutive steps: formation and decomposition of CH3OOH intermediate. We calculated the activation free energies and rate constants of each step, then used Bodenstein's quasistationary concentrations approximation to estimate the rate constants of the reaction. On the basis of the temperature dependence of the rate constants, parameters in the extended Arrhenius equation were determined. We found that reaction rate of each step, as well as overall reaction, increases with increasing CO2 pressure in the system. The most effective zone for the process is T = 1000-1200 K, and the CO2 pressure is about 100 atm.

Molecular Dynamics Study of Combustion Reactions in a Supercritical Environment. Part 2: Boxed MD Study of CO + OH → CO2 + H Reaction Kinetics.

Oxy-fuel combustion technology holds a great promise in both increasing the efficiency of the energy conversion and reducing environmental impact. However, effects of the higher pressures and replacement of the nitrogen with carbon dioxide diluent are not well understood at present. The title reaction is one of the most important processes in combustion. Despite numerous studies, the effects of supercritical carbon dioxide environment did not receive much attention in the past. Here we report the results of boxed molecular dynamics simulations of these effects at QM/MM theory level with periodical boundary conditions. The free energy barriers for HOCO intermediate formation and decomposition were tabulated in a wide range of pressures (1-1000 atm) and temperatures (400-1600 K). Pressure dependence of calculated rate constants for these reaction steps and overall reaction were analyzed. We found that the CO2 environment may increase these rate constants up to a factor of 25, at near critical conditions. At higher temperatures, this effect weakens significantly. Numerical values for parameters of extended Arrhenius equation, suitable for combustion kinetic modeling are reported.

Catalytic Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Reaction OH + CO → H + CO2 in Supercritical Environment: Master Equation Study.

We investigated the reaction rates of OH + CO → H + CO2 in supercritical CO2 environment with and without additional CO2 molecule included in reactive complex. Ab initio potential energy surfaces previously reported a lower activation barrier and hence a catalytic effect of additional CO2 molecule. Here we solve the steady-state unimolecular master equations based on the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory (RRKM) and compare the rates for the two mechanisms. We found that the alternative reaction mechanism becomes faster at high pressure and low temperature, when the concentration of prereactive complex with additional CO2 molecule becomes appreciable. Therefore, this catalytic effect may be important for the chemical processes in CO2 solvent but is unlikely to play a role during combustion.

Shock Tube/Laser Absorption and Kinetic Modeling Study of Triethyl Phosphate Combustion.

Pyrolysis and oxidation of triethyl phosphate (TEP) were performed in the reflected shock region at temperatures of 1462-1673 K and 1213-1508 K, respectively, and at pressures near 1.3 atm. CO concentration time histories during the experiments were measured using laser absorption spectroscopy at 4580.4 nm. Experimental CO yields were compared with model predictions using the detailed organophosphorus compounds (OPC) incineration mechanism from the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). The mechanism significantly underpredicts CO yield in TEP pyrolysis. During TEP oxidation, predicted rate of CO formation was significantly slower than the experimental results. Therefore, a new improved kinetic model for TEP combustion was developed, which was built upon the AramcoMech2.0 mechanism for C0-C2 chemistry and the existing LLNL submechanism for phosphorus chemistry. Thermochemical data of 40 phosphorus (P)-containing species were reevaluated, either using recently published group values for P-containing species or by quantum chemical calculations (CBS-QB3). The new improved model is in better agreement with the experimental CO time histories within the temperature and pressure conditions tested in this study. Sensitivity analysis was used to identify important reactions affecting CO formation, and future experimental/theoretical studies on kinetic parameters of these reactions were suggested to further improve the model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of TEP kinetics in a shock tube under these conditions and the first time-resolved laser-based species time history data during its pyrolysis and oxidation.

Quantum Chemical Study of CH3 + O2 Combustion Reaction System: Catalytic Effects of Additional CO2 Molecule.

The supercritical carbon dioxide diluent is used to control the temperature and to increase the efficiency in oxycombustion fossil fuel energy technology. It may affect the rates of combustion by altering mechanisms of chemical reactions, compared to the ones at low CO2 concentrations. Here, we investigate potential energy surfaces of the four elementary reactions in the CH3 + O2 reactive system in the presence of one CO2 molecule. In the case of reaction CH3 + O2 → CH2O + OH (R1 channel), van der Waals (vdW) complex formation stabilizes the transition state and reduces the activation barrier by ∼2.2 kcal/mol. Alternatively, covalently bonded CO2 may form a six-membered ring transition state and reduce the activation barrier by ∼0.6 kcal/mol. In case of reaction CH3 + O2 → CH3O + O (R2 channel), covalent participation of CO2 lowers the barrier for the rate limiting step by 3.9 kcal/mol. This is expected to accelerate the R2 process, important for the branching step of the radical chain reaction mechanism. For the reaction CH3 + O2 → CHO + H2O (R3 channel) with covalent participation of CO2, the activation barrier is lowered by 0.5 kcal/mol. The reaction CH2O + OH → CHO + H2O (R4 channel) involves hydrogen abstraction from formaldehyde by OH radical. Its barrier is reduced from 7.1 to 0.8 kcal/mol by formation of vdW complex with spectator CO2. These new findings are expected to improve the kinetic reaction mechanism describing combustion processes in supercritical CO2 medium.

Quantum Chemical Study of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Effects on Combustion Kinetics.

In oxy-fuel combustion, the pure oxygen (O2), diluted with CO2 is used as oxidant instead air. Hence, the combustion products (CO2 and H2O) are free from pollution by nitrogen oxides. Moreover, high pressures result in the near-liquid density of CO2 at supercritical state (sCO2). Unfortunately, the effects of sCO2 on the combustion kinetics are far from being understood. To assist in this understanding, in this work we are using quantum chemistry methods. Here we investigate potential energy surfaces of important combustion reactions in the presence of the carbon dioxide molecule. All transition states and reactant and product complexes are reported for three reactions: H2CO + HO2 → HCO + H2O2 (R1), 2HO2 → H2O2 + O2 (R2), and CO + OH → CO2 + H (R3). In reaction R3, covalent binding of CO2 to the OH radical and then the CO molecule opens a new pathway, including hydrogen transfer from oxygen to carbon atoms followed by CH bond dissociation. Compared to the bimolecular OH + CO mechanism, this pathway reduces the activation barrier by 5 kcal/mol and is expected to accelerate the reaction. In the case of hydroperoxyl self-reaction 2HO2 → H2O2 + O2 the intermediates, containing covalent bonds to CO2 are found not to be competitive. However, the spectator CO2 molecule can stabilize the cyclic transition state and lower the barrier by 3 kcal/mol. Formation of covalent intermediates is also discovered in the H2CO + HO2 → HCO + H2O2 reaction, but these species lead to substantially higher activation barriers, which makes them unlikely to play a role in hydrogen transfer kinetics. The van der Waals complexation with carbon dioxide also stabilizes the transition state and reduces the reaction barrier. These results indicate that the CO2 environment is likely to have a catalytic effect on combustion reactions, which needs to be included in kinetic combustion mechanisms in supercritical CO2.

Potential Energy Surfaces for the Reactions of HO2 Radical with CH2O and HO2 in CO2 Environment.

We report on potential energies for the transition state, reactant, and product complexes along the reaction pathways for hydrogen transfer reactions to hydroperoxyl radical from formaldehyde H2CO + HO2 → HCO + H2O2 and another hydroperoxyl radical 2HO2 → H2O2 + O2 in the presence of one carbon dioxide molecule. Both covalently bonded intermediates and weak intermolecular complexes are identified and characterized. We found that reactions that involve covalent intermediates have substantially higher activation barriers and are not likely to play a role in hydrogen transfer kinetics. The van der Waals complexation with carbon dioxide does not affect hydrogen transfer from formaldehyde, but it lowers the barrier for hydroperoxyl self-reaction by nearly 3 kcal/mol. This indicates that CO2 environment is likely to have catalytic effect on HO2 self-reaction, which needs to be included in kinetic combustion mechanisms in supercritical CO2.

Chemical Reaction CO+OH(•) → CO2+H(•) Autocatalyzed by Carbon Dioxide: Quantum Chemical Study of the Potential Energy Surfaces.

The supercritical carbon dioxide medium, used to increase efficiency in oxy combustion fossil energy technology, may drastically alter both rates and mechanisms of chemical reactions. Here we investigate potential energy surface of the second most important combustion reaction with quantum chemistry methods. Two types of effects are reported: formation of the covalent intermediates and formation of van der Waals complexes by spectator CO2 molecule. While spectator molecule alter the activation barrier only slightly, the covalent bonding opens a new reaction pathway. The mechanism includes sequential covalent binding of CO2 to OH radical and CO molecule, hydrogen transfer from oxygen to carbon atoms, and CH bond dissociation. This reduces the activation barrier by 11 kcal/mol at the rate-determining step and is expected to accelerate the reaction rate. The finding of predicted catalytic effect is expected to play an important role not only in combustion but also in a broad array of chemical processes taking place in supercritical CO2 medium. It may open a new venue for controlling reaction rates for chemical manufacturing.

Low temperature (550-700 K) oxidation pathways of cyclic ketones: dominance of HO2-elimination channels yielding conjugated cyclic coproducts.

The low-temperature oxidation of three cyclic ketones, cyclopentanone (CPO; C5H8=O), cyclohexanone (CHO; C6H10=O), and 2-methyl-cyclopentanone (2-Me-CPO; CH3-C5H7=O), is studied between 550 and 700 K and at 4 or 8 Torr total pressure. Initial fuel radicals R are formed via fast H-abstraction from the ketones by laser-photolytically generated chlorine atoms. Intermediates and products from the subsequent reactions of these radicals in the presence of excess O2 are probed with time and isomeric resolution using multiplexed photoionization mass spectrometry with tunable synchrotron ionizing radiation. For CPO and CHO the dominant product channel in the R + O2 reactions is chain-terminating HO2-elimination yielding the conjugated cyclic coproducts 2-cyclopentenone and 2-cyclohexenone, respectively. Results on oxidation of 2-Me-CPO also show a dominant contribution from HO2-elimination. The photoionization spectrum of the co-product suggests formation of 2-methyl-2-cyclopentenone and/or 2-cyclohexenone, resulting from a rapid Dowd-Beckwith rearrangement, preceding addition to O2, of the initial (2-oxocyclopentyl)methyl radical to 3-oxocyclohexyl. Cyclic ethers, markers for hydroperoxyalkyl radicals (QOOH), key intermediates in chain-propagating and chain-branching low-temperature combustion pathways, are only minor products. The interpretation of the experimental results is supported by stationary point calculations on the potential energy surfaces of the associated R + O2 reactions at the CBS-QB3 level. The calculations indicate that HO2-elimination channels are energetically favored and product formation via QOOH is disfavored. The prominence of chain-terminating pathways linked with HO2 formation in low-temperature oxidation of cyclic ketones suggests little low-temperature reactivity of these species as fuels in internal combustion engines.

Characterization of a new ultra-high pressure shock tube facility for combustion and propulsion studies.

A new shock tube facility has been designed, constructed, and characterized at the University of Central Florida. This facility is capable of withstanding pressures of up to 1000 atm, allowing for combustion diagnostics of extreme conditions, such as in rocket combustion chambers or in novel power conversion cycles. For studies with toxic gas impurities, the high initial pressures required the development of a gas delivery system to ensure the longevity of the facility and the safety of the personnel. Data acquisition and experimental propagation were implemented with remote access to ensure safety, paired with a LabVIEW- and Python-based user interface. Thus far, test pressures of 270 atm, blast pressures of 730 atm, and temperatures approaching 10 000 K have been achieved. The extreme limitations of this facility allow for emission spectroscopy to be performed during the oxidation of fuel mixtures, e.g., alkanes diluted in argon and carbon dioxide. Ignition delay times were determined and compared to simulations using chemical kinetic mechanisms. The design, experimental procedures, processes of analysis, and uncertainty determination are outlined, and typical pressure profiles are compared with a new gas dynamics solver and empirical correlations developed across multiple shock tube facilities. Preliminary reactive mixture analyses are included with further investigation of the mixtures outlined.

Reactions of OH with butene isomers: measurements of the overall rates and a theoretical study.

Reactions of hydroxyl (OH) radicals with 1-butene (k(1)), trans-2-butene (k(2)), and cis-2-butene (k(3)) were studied behind reflected shock waves over the temperature range 880-1341 K and at pressures near 2.2 atm. OH radicals were produced by shock-heating tert-butyl hydroperoxide, (CH(3))(3)-CO-OH, and monitored by narrow-line width ring dye laser absorption of the well-characterized R(1)(5) line of the OH A-X (0, 0) band near 306.7 nm. OH time histories were modeled using a comprehensive C(5) oxidation mechanism, and rate constants for the reaction of OH with butene isomers were extracted by matching modeled and measured OH concentration time histories. We present the first high-temperature measurement of OH + cis-2-butene and extend the temperature range of the only previous high-temperature study for both 1-butene and trans-2-butene. With the potential energy surface calculated using CCSD(T)/6-311++G(d,p)//QCISD/6-31G(d), the rate constants and branching fractions for the H-abstraction channels of the reaction of OH with 1-butene were calculated in the temperature range 300-1500 K. Corrections for variational and tunneling effects as well as hindered-rotation treatments were included. The calculations are in good agreement with current and previous experimental data and with a recent theoretical study.

Accurate prediction of terahertz spectra of molecular crystals of fentanyl and its analogs.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid pain reliever with a high bioavailability that can be used as prescription anesthetic. Rapid identification via non-contact methods of both known and emerging opioid substances in the fentanyl family help identify the substances and enable rapid medical attention. We apply PBEh-3c method to identify vibrational normal modes from 0.01 to 3 THz in solid fentanyl and its selected analogs. The molecular structure of each fentanyl analog and unique arrangement of H-bonds and dispersion interactions significantly change crystal packing and is subsequently reflected in the THz spectrum. Further, the study of THz spectra of a series of stereoisomers shows that small changes in molecular structure results in distinct crystal packing and significantly alters THz spectra as well. We discuss spectral features of synthetic opioids with higher potency than conventional fentanyl such as ohmefentanyl and sufentanil and discover the pattern of THz spectra of fentanyl analogs.