An Experimental and Mechanistic Study of the High Temperature Thermal Decomposition of Methanol

The thermal decomposition of methanol (CH3OH) was studied in4 both conventional and single-pulse shock tubes over the temperature and pressure ranges 950-2000 K and 1*5-12.5 atm., respectively. In both studies, highly diluted CH3OH mixtures in Ar were shock heated behind reflected waves. In the conventional shock tube infrared emission at both 3.47 and 9.56 M\u3em was monitored in order to measure CH3OH concentration as a function of time. The CH3OH concentration profiles were characterized by overall global expressions. Quenched samples from the single-pulse shock tube were analyzed by gas chromatography. The data obtained from the two sets of experiments were utilized to develop a 30 reaction mechanism which models the thermal decomposition of CH3OH better than previously proposed mechanisms