Experimental and Numerical Study on the Sooting Behaviors of Furanic Biofuels in Laminar Counterflow Diffusion Flames

Furanic biofuels have received increasing research interest over recent years, due to their potential in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the production of harmful pollutants. Nevertheless, the heterocyclic structure in furans make them readily to produce soot, which requires an in-depth understanding. In this study, the sooting characteristic of several typical furanic biofuels, i.e., furan, 2-methylfuran (MF), and 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), were investigated in laminar counterflow flames. Combined laser-based soot measurements with numerical analysis were performed. Special focus was put on understanding how the fuel structure of furans could affect soot formation. The results show that furan has the lowest soot volume fraction, followed by DMF, while MF has the largest value. Kinetic analyses revealed that the decomposition of MF produces high amounts of C3 species, which are efficient benzene precursors. This may be the reason for the enhanced formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot in MF flames, as compared to DMF and furan flames. The major objectives of this work are to: (1) understand the sooting behavior of furanic fuels in counterflow flames, (2) elucidate the fuel structure effects of furans on soot formation, and (3) provide database of quantitative soot concentration for model validation and refinements.

Planar Light Extinction Measurement of Soot Volume Fraction in Laminar Counterflow Diffusion Flames

A cost-effective and straightforward light extinction method has been extensively used for measurement of soot volume fraction (SVF) in sooting flames. The traditional pointwise measurement with translation stage suffers from relatively time-consuming operation and low spatial resolution. In the current study, the planar light extinction method is processed by utilizing a CMOS camera to image the combustion field of counterflow diffusion flame (CDF) backlit with the lamp. Collimated and diffuse optical layouts were adopted to explore the feasibility. Investigations of beam-steering effects are presented and discussed through a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and ray tracing simulations. Measured SVF are compared to the well-validated laser-induced incandescence (LII) measurements. Current measurements show that the diffuse optical layout is feasible and robust to provide accurate and more efficient measurement of the SVF in CDF with superior spatial resolution (21.65 μm).