Laminar burning characteristics of 2-MTHF compared with ethanol and isooctane

Hongming Xu, Yizhou Jiang, Xiao Ma, Bo Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

2-Methyl tetrahydrofuran (2-MTHF) is one of the promising second-generation biofuel candidates, raising increasing interest because of the recent breakthrough in producing 2-MTHF from biomass. As a potential gasoline extender and renewable oxygenate, its high energy density and avoidance of competing with food make it attractive compared with ethanol. In the current work, the laminar burning characteristics of 2-MTHF-air mixtures are studied with varying equivalent ratios (0.88–1.43) and initial temperatures (333 K, 363 K and 393 K) at ambient pressure in a constant-volume vessel. The results are compared with ethanol and isooctane, a representative component in gasoline. The stretched flame speed, un-stretched flame speed, Markstein length, flame thickness, Markstein number, laminar burning velocity and burning flux are calculated and analyzed. The result shows that for most tests, the ranking of un-stretched flame propagation speed is ethanol, 2-MTHF and isooctane. The peaks of un-stretched flame speeds against varying equivalent ratios appear at Φ = 1.1–1.2 for three tested fuels. The Markstein length indicates that generally isooctane has the most diffusion-thermal stable flame than 2-MTHF and ethanol when Φ < 1.2 at 393 K. Ethanol shows the smallest flame thickness in most of the test points. The laminar burning velocity of 2-MTHF is much faster than isooctane and is comparative with ethanol, indicating its fast-burning property and potential of improving engine thermal efficiency.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10-20
JournalFuel
Volume190
Issue number15
Early online date16 Nov 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Feb 2017

Keywords

  • 2-Methyl tetrahydrofuran (2-MTHF)
  • Flame instability
  • Markstein length
  • Laminar flame speed

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