Computational Kinetic Study for the Unimolecular Decomposition Pathways of Cyclohexanone.

There has been evidence lately that several endophytic fungi can convert lignocellulosic biomass into ketones among other oxygenated compounds. Such compounds could prove useful as biofuels for internal combustion engines. Therefore, their combustion properties are of high interest. Cyclohexanone was identified as an interesting second-generation biofuel ( Boot , M. ; et al. Cyclic Oxygenates: A New Class of Second-Generation Biofuels for Diesel Engines? Energy Fuels 2009 , 23 , 1808 - 1817 ; Klein-Douwel , R. J. H. ; et al. Soot and Chemiluminescence in Diesel Combustion of Bio-Derived, Oxygenated and Reference Fuels . Proc. Combust. Inst. 2009 , 32 , 2817 - 2825 ). However, until recently ( Serinyel , Z. ; et al. Kinetics of Oxidation of Cyclohexanone in a Jet- Stirred Reactor: Experimental and Modeling . Proc. Combust. Inst. 2014 ; DOI: 10.1016/j.proci.2014.06.150 ), no previous studies on the kinetics of oxidation of that fuel could be found in the literature. In this work, we present the first theoretical kinetic study of the unimolecular decomposition pathways of cyclohexanone, a cyclic ketone that could demonstrate important fuel potential. Using the quantum composite G3B3 method, we identified six different decomposition pathways for cyclohexanone and computed the corresponding rate constants. The rate constants were calculated using the G3B3 method coupled with Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus theory in the temperature range of 800-2000 K. Our calculations show that the kinetically more favorable channel for thermal decomposition is pathway 2 that produces 1,3-butadien-2-ol, which in turn can isomerize easily to methyl vinyl ketone through a small barrier. The results presented here can be used in a future kinetic combustion mechanism.

An experimental and modeling study of the low- and high-temperature oxidation of cyclohexane.

The experimental study of the oxidation of cyclohexane has been performed in a jet-stirred reactor at temperatures ranging from 500 to 1100 K (low- and intermediate temperature zones including the negative temperature-coefficient area), at a residence time of 2 s and for dilute mixtures with equivalence ratios of 0.5, 1, and 2. Experiments were carried out at quasi-atmospheric pressure (1.07 bar). The fuel and reaction product mole fractions were measured using online gas chromatography. A total of 34 reaction products have been detected and quantified in this study. Typical reaction products formed in the low-temperature oxidation of cyclohexane include cyclic ethers (1,2-epoxycyclohexane and 1,4-epoxycyclohexane), 5-hexenal (formed from the rapid decomposition of 1,3-epoxycyclohexane), cyclohexanone, and cyclohexene, as well as benzene and phenol. Cyclohexane displays high low-temperature reactivity with well-marked negative temperature-coefficient (NTC) behavior at equivalence ratios 0.5 and 1. The fuel-rich system (ϕ = 2) is much less reactive in the same region and exhibits no NTC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first jet-stirred reactor study to report NTC in cyclohexane oxidation. Laminar burning velocities were also measured by the heated burner method at initial gas temperatures of 298, 358, and 398 K and at 1 atm. The laminar burning velocity values peak at ϕ = 1.1 and are measured as 40 and 63.1 cm/s for Ti = 298 and 398 K, respectively. An updated detailed chemical kinetic model including low-temperature pathways was used to simulate the present (jet-stirred reactor and laminar burning velocity) and literature experimental (laminar burning velocity, rapid compression machine, and shock tube ignition delay times) data. Reasonable agreement is observed with most of the products observed in our reactor, as well as the literature experimental data considered in this paper.

Experimental and modeling investigation of the low-temperature oxidation of n-heptane.

The low-temperature oxidation of n-heptane, one of the reference species for the octane rating of gasoline, was investigated using a jet-stirred reactor and two methods of analysis: gas chromatography and synchrotron vacuum ultra-violet photo-ionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) with direct sampling through a molecular jet. The second method allowed the identification of products, such as molecules with hydroperoxy functions, which are not stable enough to be detected using gas chromatography. Mole fractions of the reactants and reaction products were measured as a function of temperature (500-1100K), at a residence time of 2s, at a pressure of 800 torr (1.06 bar) and at stoichiometric conditions. The fuel was diluted in an inert gas (fuel inlet mole fraction of 0.005). Attention was paid to the formation of reaction products involved in the low temperature oxidation of n-heptane, such as olefins, cyclic ethers, aldehydes, ketones, species with two carbonyl groups (diones) and ketohydroperoxides. Diones and ketohydroperoxides are important intermediates in the low temperature oxidation of n-alkanes but their formation have rarely been reported. Significant amounts of organic acids (acetic and propanoic acids) were also observed at low temperature. The comparison of experimental data and profiles computed using an automatically generated detailed kinetic model is overall satisfactory. A route for the formation of acetic and propanoic acids was proposed. Quantum calculations were performed to refine the consumption routes of ketohydroperoxides towards diones.