Extinction strain rates of premixed ammonia/hydrogen/nitrogen-air counterflow flames

Abstract

Chemical energy vectors will play a crucial role in the transition of the global energy system, due to their essential advantages in storing energy in form of gaseous, liquid, or solid fuels. Ammonia (NH3) has been identified as a highly promising candidate, as it is carbon-free, can be stored at moderate pressures, and already has a developed distribution infrastructure. As a fuel NH3 has poor combustion properties that can be improved by the addition of hydrogen, which can be obtained energy-efficiently by partially cracking ammonia into hydrogen (H2) and nitrogen (N2) prior to the combustion process. The resulting NH3/H2/N2 blend leads to significantly improved flame stability and resilience to strain-induced blow-out, despite similar laminar flame properties compared to equivalent methane/air flames. This study reports the first measurements of extinction strain rates, measured using the premixed twin-flame configuration in a laminar opposed jet burner, for two NH3/H2/N2 blends over a range of equivalence ratios. Local strain rates are measured using particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and are related to the inflow conditions, such that the local strain rate at the extinction point can be approximated. The results are compared with 1D-simulations using three recent kinetic mechanisms for ammonia oxidation. By relating the extinction strain rates to laminar flame properties of the unstretched flame, a comparison of the extinction behaviour of CH4 and NH3/H2/N2 blends can be made. For lean mixtures, NH3/H2/N2-air flames show a significant higher extinction resistance in comparison to CH4/air. In addition, a strong non-linear dependence between the resistance to extinction and equivalence ratio for NH3/H2/N2 blends is observed.