Oscillatory cool flames in the combustion of diethyl ether

Abstract

An experimental and numerical study of the oscillatory cool flames of a C2H5OC2H5+ O2+ N2 mixture has been performed in a jet-stirred flow reactor at reactant pressures up to 300 mmHg. The mean residence time was 4 ± 2 s. Reaction was detected by a very fine thermocouple in the vessel. The primary objective was to study the low-temperature oxidation of diethyl ether and to establish the kinetic origins of this reactivity. The dialkyl ethers appear to be the most reactive class of organic compounds as far as cool flame and ignition phenomena are concerned, the lowest temperature at which oscillatory cool flames were observed in the present experiments being 430 K. The highest temperature for their existence was 590 K. No ignitions were detected in these experiments but complex oscillatory-cool-flame modes were obtained. The p–Ta regions for the existence of the different kinds of reactions were mapped.