Experimental and Kinetic Modeling of Kerosene-Type Fuels at Gas Turbine Operating Conditions

Abstract

Experimental and kinetic modeling of kerosene-type fuels is reported in the present work with special emphasis on the low-temperature oxidation phenomenon relevant to gas turbine premixing conditions. Experiments were performed in an atmospheric pressure, tubular flow reactor to measure ignition delay time of kerosene (fuel–oil No. 1) in order to study the premature autoignition of liquid fuels at gas turbine premixing conditions. The experimental results indicate that the ignition delay time decreases exponentially with the equivalence ratio at fuel-lean conditions. However, for very high equivalence ratios (>2), the ignition delay time approaches an asymptotic value. Equivalence ratio fluctuations in the premixer can create conditions conducive for autoignition of fuel in the premixer, as the gas turbines generally operate under lean conditions during premixed prevaporized combustion. Ignition delay time measurements of stoichiometric fuel–oil No. 1∕air mixture at 1 atm were comparable with that of kerosene type Jet-A fuel available in the literature. A detailed kerosene mechanism with approximately 1400 reactions of 550 species is developed using a surrogate mixture of n-decane, n-propylcyclohexane, n-propylbenzene, and decene to represent the major chemical constituents of kerosene, namely n-alkanes, cyclo-alkanes, aromatics, and olefins, respectively. As the major portion of kerosene-type fuels consists of alkanes, which are relatively more reactive at low temperatures, a detailed kinetic mechanism is developed for n-decane oxidation including low temperature reaction kinetics. With the objective of achieving a more comprehensive kinetic model for n-decane, the mechanism is validated against target data for a wide range of experimental conditions available in the literature. The data include shock tube ignition delay time measurements, jet-stirred reactor reactivity profiles, and plug-flow reactor species time–history profiles. The kerosene model predictions agree fairly well with the ignition delay time measurements obtained in the present work as well as the data available in the literature for Jet A. The kerosene model was able to reproduce the low-temperature preignition reactivity profile of JP-8 obtained in a flow reactor at 12 atm. Also, the kerosene mechanism predicts the species reactivity profiles of Jet A-1 obtained in a jet-stirred reactor fairly well.