Reaction of O(3P) with C2H4: Yield of the Reaction Products as a Function of Temperature.

Abstract

Reaction of oxygen atoms with ethylene is an important step in the combustion process particularly affecting the profiles of intermediate species and flame speed. Currently, the relative importance of different pathways of this multichannel reaction at different temperatures is not fully established and determination of the branching ratios for different reaction channels as a function of temperature remains essential for modeling combustion systems. In the present work, the products of the O(3P) + C2H4 reaction have been studied over an extended temperature range (297-900 K) using a low pressure flow reactor (1-8 Torr) combined with a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The yields of the three main reaction products, H atom, CH3 radical, and CH2O, were determined to be 0.31 ± 0.05, 0.53 ± 0.09, and 0.17 ± 0.03, respectively, independent of pressure and temperature under experimental conditions of the study. For the yields of the minor reaction products, H2 and CH4, the upper limits were determined as 0.05 and 0.02, respectively. These results are compared with the experimental data and theoretical calculations available in the literature.