Ketene (CH2CO) mechanism is a building block for developing combustion kinetic models of practical fuels. To revisit the combustion chemistry related to ketene, oxidation experiments of butane-2,3‑dione (diacetyl, CH3COCOCH3), considered as an effective precursor of CH2CO, are conducted in a jet-stirred reactor (JSR) at 10 bar and temperatures ranging from 650 to 1160 K. Identification and quantification of intermediates are achieved by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. A kinetic model of diacetyl is constructed based on recent theoretical and modeling studies on diacetyl and ketene, which has been validated against the present data and experimental data of diacetyl and CH2CO in literature. Generally, the present model can adequately predict most of them, and better predict the methyl-related intermediates under wide pyrolysis and combustion conditions than previous models. Based on modeling analyses, the unimolecular decomposition reaction of diacetyl is the dominant reaction pathway for fuel consumption under different equivalence ratio conditions, especially at high temperatures. Under lean conditions, both the H-atom abstraction reactions by methyl (i.e. CH3COCOCH3 + CH3 = CH4 + CH2CO + CH3CO, R3) and by OH (i.e. CH3COCOCH3 + OH = H2O + CH2CO + CH3CO, R5) are important for diacetyl consumption, while under rich conditions R5 becomes negligible. As the most important intermediates in diacetyl oxidation, the main consumption pathways of CH2CO and CH3 are dependent on the equivalence ratio conditions. Under lean conditions, CH2CO mainly reacts with OH to produce CH2OH and CO (i.e. CH2CO + OH = CH2OH + CO, R10), while methyl reacts with HO2 to produce CH3O and OH (i.e. CH3 + HO2 = CH3O + OH, R20). In contrast, under rich conditions, the addition-elimination reaction between CH2CO and H becomes competitive with R10, while the CH3 self-combination producing C2H6 plays a more important role than the CH3 oxidation pathway R20. Sensitivity analysis of CH2CO shows that not only the reactions of CH2CO, but also those of CH3 are sensitive to CH2CO formation. This is because CH3 related reactions influence the distribution of radical pool, which determines the oxidation reactivity of the reaction system.
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