Low-temperature Oxidation Chemistry Research Articles

Revisiting low temperature oxidation chemistry of n-heptane

Benefitting from the rapid development of instrumental analysis methods, intermediate products that were difficult to probe in the past can now be measured and quantified in complex reaction systems. To understand low temperature reactions of interest for combustion applications, and reduce the deviations between model predictions and experimental measurements, constant advancement in understanding low temperature oxidation process is necessary. This work examines the oxidation of n-heptane in jet-stirred reactors at atmospheric pressure, with an initial n-heptane mole fraction of 0.005, equivalence ratio of 0.5, a residence time of 1s, and over a temperature range of 500-800 K. Reaction products were analyzed using synchrotron ultra-violet photoionization mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Ignition delay times of n-heptane/O2/CO2 mixture were measured in a rapid compression machine at 20 and 40 bar over a 600-673 K temperature range. Based on the experimental results, a comprehensive kinetic model of n-heptane low temperature oxidation was developed by considering the sub-mechanisms of keto-hydroperoxide, cyclic ether, heptene isomers, and the third O2 addition reaction, and by updating the rate constants of keto-hydroperoxide decomposition and second oxygen addition reactions. The combination of reaction mechanism development and evaluation of the rate constants of key reactions enabled the model to effectively predict the species concentrations and ignition delay times of n-heptane low temperature oxidation, providing additional insight into alkane low temperature oxidation chemistry.

Exploring low temperature oxidation of iso-octane under atmospheric pressure

Iso-octane is the dominant component of primary reference fuel (PRF), with high knock resistance during the combustion process. Understanding the low temperature oxidation chemistry of iso-octane aids in clarifying the auto-ignition properties of gasoline surrogates and developing their kinetic models. However, its low temperature oxidation performance has only been observed under high pressure conditions; no report in the literature includes detailed speciation, hindering a comprehensive examination of the iso-octane low temperature oxidation mechanism. In this work, low temperature oxidation behavior of iso-octane was clearly observed in jet-stirred reactors (JSRs) under an initial fuel mole fraction of 0.01, residence time of 2 s, equivalence ratio of 0.25, and pressure of 1 bar. The low temperature oxidation reaction networks of iso-octane were explored by measuring low temperature oxidation intermediates in three experimental approaches: synchrotron vacuum-ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS), gas chromatography (GC), and cw-cavity ring-down spectroscopy (cw-CRDS). More than 80 intermediates were qualitatively analyzed in combination with the photoionization efficiency (PIE) spectrum, quantum chemistry calculation of the ionization energies, and GC analysis. Hydroperoxides derived from iso-octane low temperature oxidation were reported experimentally for the first time, including keto-hydroperoxides (KHP) and/or hydroperoxyl cyclic ethers (HPCE). Approximately 40 products were quantified, including aldehydes, ketones, olefins, and carboxylic acids, etc. Kinetic models in the literature have been examined using the datasets obtained from this work and reaction pathways for the important intermediates discussed. Comparison indicated that the iso-octane models in the literature must be improved to accurately capture the performance of iso-octane low temperature oxidation.

Variable pressure JSR study of low temperature oxidation chemistry of n-heptane by synchrotron photoionization mass spectrometry

Low temperature oxidation chemistry is crucial in the auto-ignition process of internal combustion engines. The development of laboratory based reactors and diagnostic systems promotes understanding of the low temperature oxidation mechanism. This work develops a variable pressure jet-stirred reactor (VP-JSR) platform working from one to ten bar. Compared to previous high pressure studies which routinely use gas chromatography to analyze low temperature oxidation products, the difference in this work is the possibility of probing intermediates by synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry via molecular beam sampling. The setup was validated by repeating n-heptane low temperature oxidation experiments at one and ten bar, respectively. Good agreement was observed between the data in this work and the data in the literature. A much more detailed species pool was probed compared to the literature study, including H2O2, carbonyl acids, alkylhydroperoxides, and keto-hydroperoxides. As a first demonstration of the usefulness of this design, the low temperature oxidation of n-heptane with initial fuel mole fraction of 0.005, residence time of 2 s, and equivalence ratio of 1.0 was studied at one, five, and ten bar. The preliminary results, including reactants, final products, and the initial low temperature oxidation intermediates, are discussed. The VP-JSR system developed in this work is valuable for study of the fuel chemistry from one to ten bar, to develop and examine chemical kinetic models, and to guide the development of the reaction system at even higher pressures, such as those in engine function and supercritical conditions.

Conformation-dependent low-temperature oxidation chemistry of methylcyclohexane: First oxygen addition and chain-branching

Conformational effect is an important feature of the low-temperature (low-T) oxidation chemistry of cycloalkanes. In this work, both theoretical calculation and conformational analysis were performed for the first oxygen addition in methylcyclohexane (MCH) oxidation to better understand the influence of the spatial orientation and the steric hindrance of substituted functional groups. Based on synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) measurements and adiabatic ionization energy calculations, reactive hydroperoxides, highly oxygenated molecules and stable products were identified in the jet-stirred reactor (JSR) oxidation of 1.0% and 0.5% MCH at 1.04 bar, 500–900 K and the equivalence ratio of 0.25. The abundant formation of 1-methylcyclohexene and the observation of alkenylhydroperoxides and their decomposition products verify the existence of conformation-dependent pathways in first and second oxygen addition in low-T MCH oxidation, respectively. A MCH oxidation model incorporated with conformation-dependent pathways was constructed to consider the conformational effects of cyclohexane ring and sidechain, and was validated against experimental data over a wide range of conditions in this work and literature. The consideration of conformational effects of cyclohexane ring and sidechain can generally better predict the measured species profiles and ignition delay time under low-T conditions. Based on modeling analysis, conformational effects of cyclohexane ring were found to play important roles in first oxygen addition and chain-branching in low-T MCH oxidation. Compared with the situation in low-T cyclohexane oxidation, the methyl substitution on cyclohexane ring reduces its conformational effects on chain-branching process.

Comprehensive study of the low-temperature oxidation chemistry by synchrotron photoionization mass spectrometry and gas chromatography

Comprehensive analysis of the low-temperature oxidation intermediates, including the reactive intermediates and isomers, is crucial to develop the low-temperature oxidation models of the fuels. In this aim, the complementary analysis by different analytic methods is needed. Furthermore, the cross check by different analytic methods increases the fidelity of the experiment data. In this work, we developed a jet-stirred reactor (JSR) system that coupled to the synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) and gas chromatography (GC) analysis. The JSR was designed to couple the SVUV-PIMS and GC, and the temperature homogeneity and mixing of the JSR was examined by a CFD simulation. The SVUV-PIMS system was developed to have a mass resolution of ca. 5000 at m/z 100. The GC system included a flame ionization detector (FID), thermal conductivity detector (TCD), and a mass spectrometer (MS). This newly developed setup was validated by repeating the oxidation data of n-heptane in the literature. A good agreement was observed between the two datasets. The low-temperature oxidation of n-butane was then studied to show the advantage of this setup, i.e., the simultaneous and comprehensive measurement of the low-temperature oxidation products. Specifically, the SVUV-PIMS enables the separation of the C/H/O composition of the intermediates, the measurement of formaldehyde and the peroxide intermediate, while the GC analysis gives a better separation of the oxygenated isomers and the quantification of the species that the SVUV-PIMS has difficult in quantifying. The experimental method developed in this work is valuable to study the fuel low-temperature oxidation chemistry, to reveal the species pool, and to provide reliable mole fraction data for the validation and development of combustion models.

Exploring the low-temperature oxidation chemistry with ozone addition in an RCM: A case study on ethanol

The low reactivity of some fuels restricts their oxidation experiments at temperatures lower than a specific threshold value. The oxidation of fuel exhibiting low reactivity can be initiated in practical combustors by other highly reactive components at lower temperatures beyond this threshold. To meet the lack of corresponding experimental study, ozone (O3) was utilized as the active species to extend experimental conditions towards lower temperatures. A new experimental facility combining an O3 system and a rapid compression machine (RCM) was developed, with which the generation and qualification of O3 in the RCM was achieved. The RCM-O3 facility can be used to directly investigate the ignition behavior and provide time-resolved species information in the presence of O3 under high-pressure conditions. As a case study, the oxidation and ignition behavior of ethanol were investigated under low-temperature conditions (<820 K) where the auto-ignition of pure ethanol cannot be initiated. Ignition delay times for stoichiometric ethanol/O2 mixtures containing varying concentrations of O3 (0 ppm, 1000 ppm, and 2000 ppm) were determined in the temperature region of 769–1036 K under the pressures of 15 and 25 bar. Time-resolved species profiles were obtained during the ignition process. A combination of a fast sampling system and gas chromatography (GC) technique was used to record the species profiles at 840 K and 802 K in the presence of O3. Model analysis revealed that the addition of O3 promoted the production of OH radicals. The reactivity of the system was not restricted by the decomposition of H2O2 in the presence of O3. The hydrogen-abstraction reactions of ethanol by OH radicals were highlighted to a great extent. The reaction network was not significantly affected when O3 was used as the additive, which makes the experimental results can well characterize ethanol-based chemistry. The H-abstractions at α- and β-site of ethanol by OH radicals showed opposite effects on ignition, and the branching ratio of the reaction pair was constrained according to experimental results in this work.

A comprehensive study on low-temperature oxidation chemistry of cyclohexane. II. Experimental and kinetic modeling investigation

Low-temperature oxidation of cyclohexane is investigated in two jet-stirred reactors (JSRs) at 1.04 bar and the equivalence ratio of 0.25. Reactive hydroperoxides and highly oxygenated molecules are detected using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS). The isomers of C6H10O (5-hexenal, cyclic ethers and cyclohexanone) are separated using gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Detection of characteristic hydroperoxides verifies that the conventional two-stage oxygen addition channels and recently reported third oxygen addition channels both contribute to the low-temperature oxidation of cyclohexane. Conformation-dependent channels theoretically investigated in Part I of this work are found correlated with the experimental observations of ketohydroperoxide (KHP) and alkenyl-hydroperoxide (AnHP) intermediates. A new detailed kinetic model of cyclohexane oxidation is constructed with consideration of the investigated conformation-dependent pathways in Part I and the experimental revisit of OH attack reactions over 889–1301 K and 1.22–1.84 bar. The model is validated against the newly measured oxidation data in this work and previous experimental data over a variety of pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio conditions. Modeling analysis reveals that the KHP channel and AnHP channel dominate the chain-branching process under the investigated conditions. The third oxygen addition channels and bimolecular reaction channels are found to play less important roles under the investigated conditions, while these reactions can provide more significant contributions to OH formation under high-pressure and lean conditions.

A comprehensive study on low-temperature oxidation chemistry of cyclohexane. I. Conformational analysis and theoretical study of first and second oxygen addition

To understand the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of cyclohexane, conformational analysis and theoretical study of the first and second oxygen addition are performed using quantum chemical calculations and kinetic calculations. Pressure- and temperature-dependent rate constants and branching ratios for major reaction channels are determined with RRKM/master-equation simulations over 298–2000 K and 0.01–1000 bar. The theoretical results indicate that the rapid inversion-topomerization processes facilitate fast equilibrium between axial and equatorial conformers. This can greatly counterbalance the influence of initial positions of side-chain groups in ROO, QOOH, cis-OOγQOOH and trans-OOγQOOH conformers. Conformational effects are found to be influential on the chain branching reaction sequences in second oxygen addition. The carbon ring prevents the conventional intramolecular H-transfer of cis-OOγQOOH conformers to yield ketohydroperoxides, as well as the inversion-topomerization from cis-OOγQOOH conformer to trans-OOγQOOH conformers. cis-OOγQOOH conformers mainly undergo alternative isomerization channel (cis-OOγQOOH→γP(OOH)2→alkenylhydroperoxides+OH→oxy radical+OH+OH), while trans-OOγQOOH conformers have both conventional isomerization channel (trans-OOγQOOH→ketohydroperoxides+OH→oxy radical+OH+OH) and alternative isomerization channel (trans-OOγQOOH→γP(OOH)2→alkenylhydroperoxides+OH→oxy radical+OH+OH). Kinetic calculation results also support the application of the thumb rule widely used in acyclic alkane oxidation that the rate constant of QOOH+O2 is roughly half of that of R+O2 in cyclic alkane oxidation, while it is indicated that estimating the rate constants of OOQOOH reactions from similar reactions of ROO may cause significant uncertainties.

Low-temperature oxidation chemistry of 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene (diisobutylene) triggered by dimethyl ether (DME): A jet-stirred reactor oxidation and kinetic modeling investigation

This paper explores the low-temperature (low-T) oxidation chemistry of 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene (IC8D4, diisobutylene) by using jet-stirred reactor (JSR) experiments of both IC8D4/dimethyl ether (DME) mixture and pure IC8D4 at near atmospheric pressure and low temperatures. Oxidation species are measured using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS), gas chromatography (GC) and GC combined with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). It is found that the oxidation of pure IC8D4 at atmospheric pressure presents negligible low-T reactivity and negative temperature coefficient (NTC) behavior, and that the oxidation reactivity of IC8D4/DME mixture is lower than that of butene/DME mixtures previously studied. A kinetic model for low-T IC8D4/DME oxidation is developed from recent oxidation models of IC8D4 and DME. Thermodynamic data of IC8D4 and key species in its sub-mechanism are obtained from theoretical calculations in this work, while rate constants of critical reactions are updated from recent theoretical calculation studies in literature. Based on the modeling analysis, four main pathways are found to be responsible for the consumption of IC8D4 at low temperatures. Among them, the first three pathways initiated by H addition, OH addition and H abstraction on allylic carbon sites are similar to those in 1-butene/DME and isobutene/DME oxidation. These three pathways are mainly responsible for promoting or retaining OH formation. The fourth pathway initiated by H abstraction on the alkyl carbon site differs from the other three in that it is only important in IC8D4/DME oxidation while not important in butenes/DME oxidation. This fourth pathway incorporates stepwise O2 addition and cycloaddition reaction sequences, which can promote and inhibit OH formation, respectively. The increasing contribution of this fourth pathway in IC8D4/DME oxidation reduces its reactivity compared to that of butenes/DME oxidation.

Probing the low-temperature chemistry of methyl hexanoate: Insights from oxygenate intermediates

Understanding the combustion of methyl esters is crucial to elucidate kinetic pathways and predict combustion parameters, soot yields, and fuel performance of biodiesel, however most kinetic studies of methyl esters have focused on smaller, surrogate model esters. Methyl hexanoate is a larger methyl ester approaching the chain length of methyl esters found in biodiesel and has not received as much research attention as other smaller esters. The purpose of this work is to present the first atmospheric pressure combustion data of methyl hexanoate, CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2COOCH3. Mixtures of 2% methyl hexanoate in O2 and N2 are studied using a plug flow reactor at atmospheric pressure, wall temperatures from 573 to 973 K, residence times from roughly 1-2 s., and fuel equivalence ratios of 1, 1.5, and 2. Exhaust gases are analyzed by a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer system and species mole fractions are presented. The literature model shows satisfactory agreement with the experimental species profiles and improvements for future mechanistic studies are suggested. In particular, this work proposes new unimolecular decomposition pathways of methyl hexanoate to form methanol or methyl acetate. Furthermore, the experiment detected three unsaturated esters that are direct products of the low temperature oxidation chemistry and it provides more insight into branching ratios for the formation of methyl hexanoate radicals and for the decomposition of hydroperoxyalkyl radicals.

Oxidation of 2,6-dimethylheptane at low temperature: Kinetic modeling and experimental study

Branched alkanes represent an important class of compounds in conventional fuels and some bio-derived fuels. This study is dedicated to the investigation of the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of 2,6-dimethylheptane using a combination of experimental and computational methods. All the reactants, transition states, and products in the first oxidation stage, which are crucial to the initiation reactions in the low-temperature reaction chain, were optimized through the B3LYP/CBSB7 level of theory and a kinetic mechanism that included the new reaction pathways was assembled. Ignition delay time measurements were carried out in a rapid compression machine and the results were compared with modeling predictions. The kinetic mechanism is able to capture both the first and total ignition delay times with a root-mean-square deviation of 39.6%. In addition, sensitivity analysis is performed to quantify the impact of newly developed chemistry of 2,6-dimethylheptane on ignition delay time. Rate parameters found in this study may be applicable to other branched alkanes with similar molecular structure.

Understanding the synergistic blending octane behavior of 2-methylfuran

The autoignition kinetics of hydrocarbons is an important criterion for selecting fuels for piston reciprocating engines, and it can be determined by relative performance to mixtures of alkanes, n-heptane and iso-octane, under certain standardized operating conditions. 2-methylfuran is a potential biofuel candidate, whose autoignition chemistry is markedly different from alkanes. Its octane behavior when blended with paraffins also shows a marked difference. The blending octane behavior of a fuel is characterized by its Blending Octane Number (BON). The BON of 2-methylfuran was extensively characterized in this work. 2-methylfuran's BON was mapped from experimental ignition delay times measured in a constant volume combustion chamber using established correlations. The effect on BON was studied depending on the RON of the base fuel into which 2-methylfuran was blended, as well as the quantity of 2-methylfuran blended. BON of 2-methyfuran was greater than its RON by a factor of four or more for some blends studied. BON reduced with increasing RON of the base fuel, as well as with increasing quantity of 2-methylfuran blended. A chemical kinetic model was created by integration of well validated sub-models for the blend components, and then used to explain the chemical kinetics leading to the extremely high BON values of 2-methylfuran. The synergetic anti-knock blending effect of 2-methylfuran is partially due to its physical properties leading to a greater molar fraction per volume fraction in the blend compared to iso-octane. Analysis using chemical kinetic model revealed that the chemical action behind 2-methylfuran's blending octane behavior was due to its ability to quench OH radicals which are important to the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of alkanes. This quenching effect is achieved due to the more rapid reaction rate of 2-methylfuran with OH radical compared to iso-octane, followed by the immediate conversion of the adduct shifting the equilibrium towards the product.

Insights on keto-hydroperoxide formation from O2 addition to the beta-tetrahydrofuran radical

Cyclic ethers provide an interesting case study of low-temperature oxidation chemistry, especially in relevance to biofuels. A recent experimental study (Hansen et al., 2019) revealed new questions regarding the low-temperature oxidation mechanism of tetrahydrofuran (THF) concerning the formation of keto-hydroperoxides. In particular, keto-hydroperoxides originating from the THF-β radical were not captured accurately by current literature models, motivating this work to calculate the energetics of the first and second O2-addition pathways for THF radicals. Electronic structure calculations at the CCSD(T)/cc-pV∞Z//M06-2X/cc-pVTZ level of theory were used to generate potential energy surfaces for the α-C and β-C THF radicals and subsequent pathways to the formation of the keto-hydroperoxide isomers. These are the first theoretical calculations of the second O2-addition radical pathways for the THF-β radical. Results from the theorical work provided further insight into the low-temperature oxidation of THF. This included identifying the pathways most likely to form the keto-hydroperoxide isomers observed in prior experimental work; and detecting that the shortcomings in prior models are likely due to uncertainties in R + THF abstraction reaction rates. These conclusions will motivate future work for accurate THF kinetic model development.

Exploring the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of 1-butene and i-butene triggered by dimethyl ether

In order to better understand the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of alkenes, 1-butene and i-butene oxidation experiments triggered by dimethyl ether (DME) were conducted in a jet-stirred reactor at 790 Torr, 500–725 K and the equivalence ratio of 0.35. Low-temperature oxidation intermediates involved in alcoholic radical chemistry and allylic radical chemistry were detected by using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS). To better interpret the experimental data, a kinetic model was proposed based on our low-temperature oxidation model of DME and comprehensive oxidation models of 1-butene and i-butene in literature. Based on present experimental results and modeling analysis, alcoholic radical chemistry initiated by OH addition is mainly responsible for the low-temperature chain propagation of butenes, since the Waddington mechanism plays a dominant role compared with the chain-branching pathways through the second O2 addition. Allylic radical+HO2 reactions producing alkenyl hydroperoxides and fuel+O2 serve as the major chain-branching and chain-termination pathways, respectively, and they are competitive in the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) region. In contrast, chain-branching pathways originating from allylic radical+O2 and alkyl-like radical+O2 reactions have little contribution to the OH formation. Comparison with the simulation results of butane/DME mixtures demonstrates that butenes can largely inhibit the reactivity of DME at low temperatures due to its reduced low-temperature chain-branching process. However, in the NTC region, butenes may not be good OH absorbents since the allylic radicals can convert HO2 to OH and consequently enhance the oxidation reactivity.

Elevated pressure low-temperature oxidation of linear five-heavy-atom fuels: diethyl ether, n-pentane, and their mixture

Abstract Diethyl ether (DEE) has been proposed as a biofuel additive for compression-ignition engines, as an ignition improver for homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines, and as a suitable component for dual-fuel mixtures in reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engines. The combustion in these engines is significantly controlled by low-temperature (LT) chemistry. Fundamental studies of DEE LT oxidation chemistry and of its influence in fuel-mixture oxidation are thus highly important, especially at elevated pressures. Elevated pressure speciation data were measured for the LT oxidation of DEE, of its similarly-structured linear five-heavy-atom hydrocarbon fuel (n-pentane), and of a mixture of the two fuels in a jet-stirred reactor (JSR) in the temperature range of 400–1100 K and at various pressures up to 10 bar. The pressure influence on the LT oxidation chemistry of DEE was investigated by a comparison of the measured profiles of oxidation products. The results for DEE and n-pentane were then inspected with regard to fuel structure influences on the LT oxidation behavior. The new speciation data were used to test recent kinetic models for these fuels [Tran et al., Proc. Combust. Inst. 37 (2019) 511 and Bugler et al., Proc. Combust. Inst. 36 (2017) 441]. The models predict the major features of the LT chemistry of these fuels well and could thus subsequently assist in the data interpretation. Finally, the LT oxidation behavior of an equimolar mixture of the two fuels was explored. The interaction between the two fuels and the effects of the pressure on the fuel mixture oxidation were examined. In addition to reactions within the combined model for the two fuels, about 80 cross-reactions between primary reactive species generated from these two fuel molecules were added to explore their potential influences.

Oxidation kinetics of n-pentanol: A theoretical study of the reactivity of the 1‑hydroxy‑1-peroxypentyl radical

n-Pentanol has been considered as a promising alternative fuel for compression-ignition engines due to its potential to reduce greenhouse gases and pollutant emissions. Engine performance is strongly dominated by fuel oxidation chemistry, and thus a more accurate determination of the coefficients of the reactions ruling its oxidation is essential for the utilization of n-pentanol in combustion engines. The reactions involving 1‑hydroxy‑1-pentyl and molecular oxygen were found to play an important role in controlling the low temperature oxidation chemistry, but have not been investigated experimentally or theoretically; this is also the case for the reactions of the 1‑hydroxy‑1-peroxypentyl radical, which is formed by the addition of oxygen to the radical center of 1‑hydroxy‑1-pentyl. This work presents a theoretical study with high level ab initio calculations at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//M06-2X/cc-pVTZ level of theory to shed light on the fate of the 1‑hydroxy‑1-peroxypentyl radical. The rate coefficients of all the possible intra-molecular hydrogen shift reactions of that radical were computed using variational transition state theory with small curvature tunneling corrections. For certain reactions, tunneling and variational effects are very pronounced, proving the need for robust methodologies to account for these effects. The hydrogen shift reaction leading to a concerted HO2 elimination and formation of n-pentanal is the dominant pathway and governs the reactivity of 1‑hydroxy‑1-peroxypentyl radical at any temperature. The reverse of this reaction was thereby investigated as well. For this prominent pathway, the effects of multistructural (multiple conformers) torsional anharmonicity of the stationary points were taken into account in order to refine the forward and reverse rate coefficients. The rate coefficients calculated at room temperature are compared to those calculated using a previously developed cost-effective multi-conformer transition state theory approach. The system-specific quantum Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel (SS-QRRK) theory was used to compute the pressure-dependent rate coefficients, which indicate significant pressure dependence at intermediate and high temperatures. Implementation of the calculated reaction rate coefficients in chemical kinetics models of n-pentanol revealed that our computed rate coefficients enable better insights into the chemistry of n-pentanol, and help to understand how n-pentanal is formed.

Theoretical Study of Radical-Molecule Reactions with Negative Activation Energies in Combustion: Hydroxyl Radical Addition to Alkenes.

Many of the radical–molecule reactions are nonelementary reactions with negative activation energies, which usually proceed through two steps. They exist extensively in the atmospheric chemistry and hydrocarbon fuel combustion, so they are extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally. At the same time, various models, such as a two transition state model, a steady-state model, an equilibrium-state model, and a direct elementary dynamics model are proposed to get the kinetic parameters for the overall reaction. In this paper, a conversion temperature TC1 is defined as the temperature at which the standard molar Gibbs free energy change of the formation of the reaction complex is equal to zero, and it is found that when T ≫ TC1, the direct elementary dynamics model with an inclusion of the tunneling correction of the second step reaction is applicable to calculate the overall reaction rate constants for this kind of reaction system. The reaction class of hydroxyl radical addition to alkenes is chosen as the objects of this study, five reactions are chosen as the representative for the reaction class, and their single-point energies are calculated using the method of CCSD(T)/CBS, and it is shown that the highest conversion temperature for the five reactions is 139.89 K, far below the usual initial low-temperature (550 K) oxidation chemistry of hydrocarbon fuels; therefore, the steady-state approximation method is applicable. All geometry optimizations are performed at the BH&HLYP/6-311+G(d,p) level, and the result shows that the geometric parameters in the reaction centers are conserved; hence, the isodesmic reaction method is applicable to this reaction class. To validate the accuracy of this scheme, a comparison of electronic energy difference at the BH&HLYP/6-311+G(d,p) level and the corrected electronic energy difference with the electronic energy difference at the CCSD(T)/CBS level is performed for the five representative reactions, and it is shown that the maximum absolute deviation of electronic energy difference can be reduced from 2.54 kcal·mol–1 before correction to 0.58 kcal·mol–1 after correction, indicating that the isodesmic reaction method is applicable for the accurate calculation of the kinetic parameters for large-size molecular systems with a negative activation energy reaction. The overall rate constants for 44 reactions of the reaction class of hydroxyl radical addition to alkenes are calculated using the transition-state theory in combination with the isodesmic correction scheme, and high-pressure limit rate rules for the reaction class are developed. In addition, the thermodynamic parameter is calculated and the results indicate that our dynamics model is applicable for our studied reaction class. A chemical kinetic modeling and sensitivity analysis using the calculated kinetic data is performed for the combustion of ethene, and the results indicate the studied reaction is important for the low-to-medium temperature combustion modeling of ethene.

Experimental and kinetic modeling investigation on ethylcyclohexane low-temperature oxidation in a jet-stirred reactor

In this work, the oxidation of ethylcyclohexane was studied in a jet-stirred reactor at 780 Torr, 480–780 K and equivalence ratios of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. Synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) was used for the detection of oxidation products, including a series of reactive intermediates such as cycloalkylhydroperoxides, keto-hydroperoxides, alkenal-hydroperoxides and highly oxygenated molecules. Quantum chemistry calculations were performed to obtain ionization energies for the identification of some important intermediates and energy barriers of several important pathways. On the other hand, this work presents the first efforts on developing a low-temperature oxidation model of ethylcyclohexane. The present model can reasonably capture the low-temperature oxidation reactivities and negative temperature coefficient behaviors observed in both present and previous experimental work of ethylcyclohexane oxidation. Modeling analyses were performed to provide insight into the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of ethylcyclohexane. The two-stage O2 addition mechanism is concluded to dominate the chain-branching process in the low-temperature region. The concerted elimination reactions of cycloalkylperoxy radical and “formally direct” chemically activated reactions of cycloalkyl+O2 result in cycloalkenes and HO2 formation at the negative temperature coefficient region and serve as main chain-termination pathways. Compared with smaller cycloalkanes like cyclohexane and methylcyclohexane, the ethyl sidechain structure in ethylcyclohexane reduces the energy barriers of cycloalkylperoxy radical isomerization and facilitates the formation of keto-hydroperoxides which leads to more pronounced low-temperature oxidation reactivity of ethylcyclohexane.

Probing the low-temperature chemistry of di-n-butyl ether: Detection of previously unobserved intermediates

Di-n-butyl ether (DBE, C8H18O) has been proposed as a promising biofuel for diesel engines, but details of its low-temperature (LT) oxidation chemistry are not well understood. This paper reports new speciation data obtained in the temperature range of 400–1100 K at ϕ=1 and nearly-atmospheric pressure, using a plug flow reactor combined with electron ionization molecular-beam mass spectrometry (MBMS) and two different jet-stirred reactors coupled with either online gas chromatography or tunable synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization-MBMS.The experimental results confirm that DBE is very reactive and exhibits two negative-temperature coefficient (NTC) zones around 500–550 K and 650–750 K. Speciation data with about 40 C0-C8 species are presented, including about 20 LT species not reported previously. Among those, fuel-specific C8H16O2 cyclic ethers were quantified. Also, butanoic acid, which is present in highest amounts among the detected LT intermediates, and C8H14O3 diones, were found to peak already near 500 K, suggesting their importance in the LT chemistry of DBE. Signals of several highly oxygenated peroxides (e.g., C8H14O5 and C8H16O6) were detected, indicating third O2 addition steps. Respective reaction pathways are suggested and discussed based on these experimental results.To better understand the LT chemistry of DBE, the present data were compared to two recent DBE models (Cai et al., 2014; Thion et al., 2017). Significant discrepancies between the experimental data and both models were found for important LT intermediates, of which many were not included in the respective mechanisms. The results reported in the present study thus provide new opportunities for refining DBE kinetic models.

Low-temperature chemistry triggered by probe cooling in a low-pressure premixed flame

Previous studies on sampling probe effects in the premixed flat flame showed that the temperature in the preheat zone can be lowered down to low-temperature oxidation regime (e.g., 400–800 K). In order to investigate the contribution of the low-temperature chemistry in flame-sampling experiments, a stoichiometric laminar premixed flat flame of ethylene/oxygen/argon was investigated at 30 Torr using synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) in this work. Ethyl hydroperoxide (C2H5OOH) was identified and quantified in the present experiment, providing an experimental evidence for the existence of low-temperature chemistry in flame-sampling experiments. In addition to C2H5OOH, the formation of several other intermediates like ethanol and formaldehyde was also influenced by the low-temperature chemistry in the present flame-sampling experiment. A literature kinetic model (Hashemi et al., 2017) was used for predictions and analyses. The difference between the predicted maximum mole fractions of C2H5OOH with the perturbed and unperturbed temperature profiles can reach up to five orders of magnitude. The great improvement of the predictions with the perturbed temperature profiles indicates that the observed low-temperature chemistry in the present flame sampling experiment originates from the probe-induced perturbations, which lowers down the temperature window of the preheat zone and leads to a temperature drop of more than 400 K compared with the unperturbed temperature profile. Through modeling analysis, the low-temperature oxidation chemistry of ethylene involved in the present flame-sampling experiment was discussed. The influence of low-temperature chemistry in the present experiment has also been demonstrated by comparing the model predictions with/without key reactions at low temperatures. It is concluded that predicted maximum mole fractions of several low-temperature chemistry related intermediates, i.e. C2H5OOH, ethanol and formaldehyde, are strongly reduced without these reactions, while low-temperature chemistry only has negligible influence on the predictions of the fuel and the majority of flame intermediates. Furthermore, preliminary experiments were also conducted in ethane, propene and n-butane flames under similar conditions, where hydroperoxides can also be observed.