Nitric Oxide Generation in N2-Diluted H2–N2O Flames: A Computational Study

Abstract

A computational study was conducted on the addition of nitrogen (0–60 vol%) to stoichiometric hydrogen–nitrous oxide flames at various initial pressures (1–10 bar) and temperatures (300–500 K), with a special emphasis on NO, which is a major pollutant that is generated by these flames. The detailed kinetic modeling of H2–N2O–N2 flames, which was performed using the GRI 3.0 mechanism, produced the structure of the H2–N2O–N2 flames for the temperature and mass fraction profiles of 53 species, which participated in 325 elementary reactions. The NO profiles that were computed by the detailed kinetic modeling followed the trend of experimental NO profiles that have been reported in the literature for laminar premixed flames at sub-atmospheric pressures. For the examined H2–N2O–N2 flames, an increase in initial pressure resulted in a significant reduction in the NO mass fraction of the burned gas. The increase in initial temperature was also accompanied by an increase in the mass fractions of the generated NO, as well as the flame temperature.