An experimental flow reactor study of the combustion kinetics of terpenoid jet fuel compounds: Farnesane, p-menthane and p-cymene

Abstract

The combustion kinetics of three bio jet fuel compounds farnesane, p-menthane and p-cymene, derived from natural terpenoids, have been investigated experimentally by an atmospheric high temperature flow reactor coupled with molecular beam mass spectrometric detection (MBMS). Quantitative speciation data for their oxidation chemistry in combustion is presented to provide an insight into the combustion behavior and provide detailed validation data for kinetic modeling. The experimental results are compared and discussed to analyze distinct combustion phenomena such as fuel consumption pathways and soot precursor chemistry.The fuel selection focuses on biotechnologically producible terpenoid components, namely the isoalkane 2,6,10-trimethyl dodecane (farnesane), the cycloalkane 1-isopropyl-4-methylcyclohexane (p-menthane) and the branched aromatic compound 1-isopropyl-4-methylbenzene (p-cymene). Literature data on farnesane (recently approved with up to 10% blending in Jet A-1) is limited and even scarcer for the two potential synthetic fuel additive species, p-menthane and p-cymene. The comprehensive, systematic experimental speciation data set including the single fuel components for lean to rich stoichiometries (0.5–1.5) is available in the supplemental material to this contribution.