Conjugate Heat Transfer and Sooting Propensity of Ethanol for Laminar Coflow Diffusion Flames at Elevated Pressures

The effect of sooting propensity of various compositions of methane and ethanol fuel in laminar diffusion flames at elevated pressures was analyzed numerically. Simulations of laminar diffusion flames comprised of pressure conditions up to 20 atm and composition of ethanol and methane fuel ranging from pure methane to pure ethanol. For all fuel compositions evaluated, the total carbon mass flow rate was maintained at a constant value of 0.458 mg/s. Soot formation and soot yield were corroborated against measured data and demonstrated well agreement with trends for pressure and fuel composition. For elevated pressure, fuel compositions with higher ethanol content yield higher peak soot concentrations, however at lower pressures synergistic effects result to soot concentration decreasing with ethanol content for ethanol dominant fuel mixtures. Finally, the effect of conjugate heat transfer and modification in burner wall geometry were evaluated which exhibited improved trends and overall results.M.A.S