Non-reacting Conditions Research Articles

Investigation of Discharge Coefficients for Single Element Lean Direct Injection Modules

Lean direct injection (LDI) combustion has a high potential as a low pollution combustion method for gas turbines. The present research aims to further investigate the discharge coefficient of an LDI module, axial swirler and convergent outlet under non-reaction and reaction conditions by theoretical, numerical and experimental methods. The functional relationship between the discharge coefficient of the LDI module, axial swirler and convergent outlet was established, and the effect of swirl angle (30°, 32°, 34°, 36°, 38°, 40°) and vane number (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) on discharge coefficient was studied, and finally the differences in effective flow area of LDI combustor under different inlet conditions were analyzed. The results indicate that the flow separation on the suction side increases as the swirl angle increases, which leads to a decrease of the discharge coefficient of the axial swirler, however the discharge coefficient of the convergent outlet remains unchanged first and then decreases. As the vane number increases, the flow separation on the suction side decreases and the flow friction loss increases, so that the discharge coefficient of the axial swirler and convergent outlet will first increase with the increase of vane number and then decrease with further increases. The effective flow area of combustor changes as the conditions change, but it is approximately equal under high power conditions and normal temperature and pressure conditions.

Oxygen dependent morphology and mechanical properties of Al[sbnd]Cr[sbnd](Fe)-based coatings

Fe-alloyed intermetallic Al–Cr coatings as well as substoichiometric oxides (with respect to M2O3 stoichiometry) thereof were synthesised by reactive arc evaporation in order to investigate the impact of Fe and the oxygen flow rate during deposition on the structural evolution and mechanical properties.All coatings prepared in non-reactive conditions crystallise in a γ2-type Al8Cr5 structure with Fe substitutionally incorporated in the lattice featuring hardnesses in the range of 11 ± 1 GPa. By introducing oxygen to the process, the growth morphology changes from columnar to a nano-composite-like structure of small Cr-enriched crystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix. Simultaneously, the number of droplets and therewith associated defect structures increases and accordingly the hardness values of these films decrease to 8.5 ± 1 GPa. For oxygen flow rates close to the transition from substoichiometric to stoichiometric sesquioxides (~0.7–0.9 Pa), the crystallinity as well as the fraction of strong oxide bonds increase and highest hardnesses among all coatings investigated are obtained (>20 GPa). Furthermore, small additions of Fe to Al0.7Cr0.3 cathodes effectively improve the structural and mechanical properties of substoichiometric oxide films.

Optical study on characteristics of non-reacting and reacting diesel spray with different strategies of split injection

Even though studies on split-injection strategies have been published in recent years, there are still many remaining questions about how the first injection affects the mixing and combustion processes of the second one by changing the dwell time between both injection events or by the first injection quantity. In this article, split-injection diesel sprays with different injection strategies are investigated. Visualization of n-dodecane sprays was carried out under both non-reacting and reacting operating conditions in an optically accessible two-stroke engine equipped with a single-hole diesel injector. High-speed Schlieren imaging was applied to visualize the spray geometry development, while diffused background-illumination extinction imaging was applied to quantify the instantaneous soot production (net result of soot formation and oxidation). For non-reacting conditions, it was found that the vapor phase of second injection penetrates faster with a shorter dwell time and independently of the duration of the first injection. This could be explained in terms of one-dimensional spray model results, which provided information on the local mixing and momentum state within the flow. Under reacting conditions, interaction between the second injection and combustion recession of the first injection is observed, resulting in shorter ignition delay and lift-off compared to the first injection. However, soot production behaves differently with different injection strategies. The maximum instantaneous soot mass produced by the second injection increases with a shorter dwell time and with longer first injection duration.

Stabilization Mechanisms of Swirling Premixed Flames With an Axial-Plus-Tangential Swirler

The stabilization of premixed flames within a swirling flow produced by an axial-plus-tangential swirler is investigated in an atmospheric test rig. In this system, flames are stabilized aerodynamically away from the solid components of the combustor without the help of any solid anchoring device. Experiments are reported for lean CH4/air mixtures, eventually also diluted with N2, with injection Reynolds numbers varying from 8500 to 25,000. Changes of the flame shape are examined with OH* chemiluminescence and OH laser-induced fluorescence measurements as a function of the operating conditions. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are used to reveal the structure of the velocity field in nonreacting and reacting conditions. It is shown that the axial-plus-tangential swirler allows to easily control the flame shape and the position of the flame leading edge with respect to the injector outlet. The ratio of the bulk injection velocity over the laminar burning velocity Ub/SL, the adiabatic flame temperature Tad, and the swirl number S0 are shown to control the flame shape and its position inside the combustion chamber. It is then shown that the axial velocity field produced by the axial-plus-tangential swirler is different from those produced by purely axial or radial devices. It takes here a W-shape profile with three local maxima and two minima. The mean turbulent flame front also takes this W-shape in an axial plane, with two lower positions located slightly off-axis and corresponding to the positions where the axial flow velocity is the lowest. It is finally shown that these positions can be inferred from axial flow velocity profiles under nonreacting conditions.

Structural and dynamical properties predicted by reactive force fields simulations for four common pure fluids at liquid and gaseous non-reactive conditions

Four common pure fluids were chosen to elucidate the reliability of reactive force fields in estimating bulk properties of selected molecular systems: CH4, H2O, CO2 and H2. The pure fluids are not expected to undergo chemical reactions at the conditions chosen for these simulations. The ‘combustion’ ReaxFF was chosen as reactive force field. In the case of water, we also considered the ‘aqueous’ ReaxFF model. The results were compared to data obtained implementing popular classic force fields. In the gas phase, it was found that simulations conducted using the ‘combustion’ ReaxFF formalism yield structural properties in reasonable good agreement with classic simulations for CO2 and H2, but not for CH4 and H2O. In the liquid phase, ‘combustion’ ReaxFF simulations reproduce reasonably well the structure obtained from classic simulations for CH4, degrade for CO2 and H2, and are rather poor for H2O. In the gas phase, the simulation results are compared to experimental second virial coefficient data. The ‘combustion’ ReaxFF simulations yield second virial coefficients that are not sufficiently negative for CH4 and CO2, and slightly too negative for H2. The ‘combustion’ ReaxFF parameterisation induces too strong an effective attraction between water molecules, while the ‘aqueous’ ReaxFF yields a second virial coefficient that is in reasonable agreement with experiments. The ‘combustion’ ReaxFF parameterisation yields acceptable self-diffusion coefficients for gas-phase properties of CH4, CO2 and H2. In the liquid phase, the results are good for CO2, while the self-diffusion coefficient predicted for liquid CH4 is slower, and that predicted for liquid H2 is about nine times faster than those expected based on classic simulations. The ‘aqueous’ ReaxFF parameterisation yields good results for both the structure and the diffusion of both liquid and vapour water.

Experimental study of spray characteristics of diesel/hydrogenated catalytic biodiesel blended fuels under inert and reacting conditions

Biodiesel has the potential to replace the conventional diesel fuel, thus the increasing interest and research in the use of biodiesel fuels for transport applications to improve the emisions. In this work, the spray characteristics of diesel with hydrogenated catalytic biodiesel (HCB) fuel blends were investigated in a constant volume combustion chamber to provide an accessible tool to predict spray behavior based on cheap and off-engine condition measurements for applying HCB in diesel engines. As two important indexes of spray characteristics, the liquid penetration and vapor penetration were researched using Mie-scattering and Schlieren methods under non-reacting conditions to avoid the influence of combustion on the mixing and vaporization processes. Besides, the liquid length of blended fuel under reacting conditions is measured by a laser system to figure out the effect of combustion on atomization process. The results show that the liquid length decreases with increasing HCB ratio in the blends and the fuel density has greater influence on the liquid length than the fuel viscosity. By comparing the liquid length result, a slight difference between the different blends on vapor penetration was observed under the same boundary condition. The spray characteristics of blends indicate that HCB is a good blending component for blended fuel which can be applied in diesel engine directly in large-scale. Moreover, the liquid length of laser Mie-scattering method is higher than that of LED Mie-scattering and the liquid length under reacting conditions is shorter than that of inert conditions.

Experimental and analytical study on vapor phase and liquid penetration for a high pressure diesel injector

In this study, a macroscopic characterization has been performed on a solenoid diesel injector (2200 bar-8 hole nozzle) under various non-reacting but evaporative conditions. For vapor penetration a two pass Schlieren visualization set up was selected. A high speed camera was used to record high speed images of the injection event to analyze the transient evolution of the vapor phase of the spray. The transient liquid penetration of the spray has been measured via MIE-Scattering imaging technique using a high speed camera as well. Unsteady RANS based CFD Simulations have been performed to simulate the experimental conditions and correlation results are presented. Built-in models from commercial code StarCD have been used to model spray formation which includes submodels for turbulence, nozzle flow, break-up and fuel properties. A novel CAE process using an automation and optimization tool has been used to achieve robust model settings, and the final model prediction are compared with the experimental observation for the injector characterization with respect to the non-reacting spray penetration with change in ambient and injection conditions. The model correlates well with the sensitivities for temperature and injection pressures qualitatively however improvements required to capture the density effects mainly related to the mesh orientation, fixed time step size where further analysis required.

ACOUSTİC SİGNATURE OF FOUR CUTTERS EV BURNER USİNG PİLOT İNJECTOR FUEL SHİFT

ABSTRACTThe basic mechanisms leading to combustion oscillations is in the presence of pressure waves, the flow features large scale motions which drive the instability. The dynamics of the flame is then dominated by processes of hydrodynamic instability, vortex roll-up, vortex interactions, front and reacting stream pulsations, periodic extinctions and resignations, self-acceleration.Combustion instabilities are a major problem in the design of high performance propulsion systems (rocket motors, jet engine afterburners, ramjets). Instabilities are also observed in power plants and in various industrial processes. They are characterized by large oscillations of the flow parameters, which have many undesirable effects. Low frequency oscillations induce large mechanical vibrations in the system, including the combustion chamber, the feeding lines and the connected rotating machinery. Unstable operation enhances, the heat transfer rates at the combustor walls and in extreme cases this may lead to serious damage and even a total loss of the system.The present work investigates the changes induced by pilot injections in the acoustic signature of a newly designed 4-slot EV burner using pilot injector at reacting and non-reacting conditions. These changes are affecting the flame stabilization especially in the lean premixed combustion due to the large structures resulting from vortex breakdown and the swirling shear-layers. Pilot injector offered good results in flame stability. The injector position influences the flow field and in turns the flame stability. Different pilot injector fuel shift inside the burner are tested.All the results are to be compared with those obtained by thepreviously developed 2-slot and 4-slot configuration without pilot injector. This allows the identification of the merits and/or drawbacks of both designs.

Experimental and numerical study of the effect of main stage stratifier length on lean blow-out performance for a stratified partially premixed injector

The lean blow-out performance of the pilot flame in a stratified partially premixed injector is studied in this work considering the influence of the main stage stratifier length. Particle image velocimetry and kerosene planar laser-induced fluorescence experiments at nonreacting conditions were carried out to give an explanation of the combustion performance. The evolutions of spray and velocity in space are discussed in detail to find out the inherent correlations of combustion stability, spray distribution, and flow structures. Moreover, special attentions are paid to the variation of primary recirculation zone with the increase of the stratifier length and its driving factors. Specifically, by lengthening the stratifier of the main stage, the primary recirculation zone is enlarged both axially and radially, and this creates an advantageous flow topology for the anchoring of the pilot flame. Finally, the dominating mechanisms for the primary recirculation zone that are responsible for the alteration of the primary recirculation zone size are pointed out with the assistance of computational fluid dynamics.

Large-eddy simulation on the influence of injection pressure in reacting Spray A

The Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray A target case corresponds to high-pressure liquid fuel injection in conditions relevant to diesel engines. Following the procedure by Wehrfritz et al. (2016), we utilize large-eddy simulation (LES) and flamelet generated manifold (FGM) methods to carry out an injection pressure sensitivity study for Spray A at 50, 100 and 150 MPa. Comparison with experiments is shown for both non-reacting and reacting conditions. Validation results in non-reacting conditions indicate relatively good agreement between the present LES and experimental data, with some deviation in mixture fraction radial profiles. In reacting conditions, the simulated flame lift-off length (FLOL) increases with injection pressure, deviating from the experiments by 4–14%. Respectively, the ignition delay time (IDT) decreases with increasing injection pressure and it is underpredicted in the simulations by 10–20%. Analysis of the underlying chemistry manifold implies that the observed discrepancies can be explained by the differences between experimental and computational mixing processes.

Characterizing Isozymes of Chlorite Dismutase for Water Treatment.

This work investigated the potential for biocatalytic degradation of micropollutants, focusing on chlorine oxyanions as model contaminants, by mining biology to identify promising biocatalysts. Existing isozymes of chlorite dismutase (Cld) were characterized with respect to parameters relevant to this high volume, low-value product application: kinetic parameters, resistance to catalytic inactivation, and stability. Maximum reaction velocities (Vmax) were typically on the order of 104 μmol min-1 (μmol heme)-1. Substrate affinity (Km) values were on the order of 100 μM, except for the Cld from Candidatus Nitrospira defluvii (NdCld), which showed a significantly lower affinity for chlorite. NdCld also had the highest susceptibility to catalytic inactivation. In contrast, the Cld from Ideonella dechloratans was least susceptible to catalytic inactivation, with a maximum turnover number of approximately 150,000, more than sevenfold higher than other tested isozymes. Under non-reactive conditions, Cld was quite stable, retaining over 50% of activity after 30 days, and most samples retained activity even after 90–100 days. Overall, Cld from I. dechloratans was the most promising candidate for environmental applications, having high affinity and activity, a relatively low propensity for catalytic inactivation, and excellent stability.

Wall Heat Flux and Thermal Stratification Investigations during the Compression Stroke of an engine-like Geometry: A comparison between LES and DNS

The near wall regions in internal combustion engines contain a significant amount of the gaseous mass in the cylinder and thus have a high relevance for the amount of unburned hydrocarbons, the wall heat transfer and the thermal stratification in the cylinder. In this context in the following study the predictive capability of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with respect to wall heat flux and thermal stratification during the compression stroke i.e. under non-reactive conditions in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) are investigated based on a comparison with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS). Two different modeling approaches for the near wall region, the low Reynolds damping approach and the LES adapted model from Plengsaard and Rutland, have been tested. During the first half of the compression stroke the low Reynolds damping approach agreed well with the DNS data, but increasing deviations were observed after 270° CA (piston halfway up). The underprediction of the wall heat flux at later stages was found to stem from the underestimation of the y + values of the first cell centroid, compared to values obtained by evaluating the DNS data at the same location, and originates from the model used to determine the friction velocity. As a consequence of the underpredicted y + value, the cell is not located in the viscous sublayer as expected, and the temperature gradient which is needed for the heat flux calculation is underpredicted. The results of the LES wall heat transfer model from Plengsaard and Rutland on the other hand showed overall reasonable agreement with the DNS data, but the model strongly depended on the modeling constants. With respect to the increasing thermal stratification during the compression both methods were found to significantly under predict the DNS results. These findings are especially relevant for LES of auto ignition phenomena in engines, since ignition timing and location are known to strongly depend on the temperature distribution.

Thermal behavior of fluid within pipes based on discriminated dimensional analysis. An improved approach to universal curves

A new approach to the heat transmission problem concerning a fully developed laminar flux inside a pipe subject to an abrupt change of temperature in non-reactive conditions is presented. By means of dimensional discriminated analysis, representative dimensionless groups of 2D governing equations and boundary conditions of the problem are managed in order to find a set of dimensionless groups which describe the system’s behavior. The characteristic length of the system, which plays a key role in the formulation, as well as the heat transfer and thermal distribution, are obtained numerically for the range of values of solar thermal flat-plate collectors using the network simulation method. The set of universal abacuses of temperature and heat based on the new dimensionless groups can be used in the design of industrial thermal devices and facilities.

Effects of Fluid Properties on Spray Characteristics of a Flow-Blurring Atomizer

In order to understand the reasons for the apparent benefits of using a flow-blurring (FB) atomizer in a combustion system, it is necessary to first examine fundamental spray characteristics under nonreacting conditions. Previous work on FB atomizers, however, has mostly involved only water and a relatively narrow range of parameters. In this study, a phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) instrument was used to characterize FB atomizer sprays and determine the effects of varying surface tension and viscosity of the liquid. Operating at room pressure and temperature (i.e., a “cold spray”), droplet sizes and velocities were measured for water, a water/surfactant mixture (lower surface tension), a water/glycerol mixture (higher viscosity), and glycerol (much higher viscosity). For all of the tested fluids, with the exception of pure glycerol, the FB atomizer produced small droplets (below 50 μm) whose size did not vary significantly in the radial or axial direction, particularly above a characteristic distance from the atomizer exit. Results show that the spray is essentially unaffected by a 4.5× decrease in surface tension or a 7× increase in viscosity, and that Sauter mean diameter (SMD) only increased by approximately a factor of three when substituting glycerol (750× higher viscosity) for water. The results suggest that the FB atomizer can effectively atomize a wide range of liquids, making it a useful fuel-flexible atomizer for combustion applications.

Biosynthesis of S-Adenosylmethionine by Magnetically Immobilized Escherichia coli Cells Highly Expressing a Methionine Adenosyltransferase Variant.

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) is a natural metabolite having important uses in the treatment of various diseases. To develop a simple and effective way to produce SAM, immobilized Escherichia coli cells highly expressing an engineered variant of methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) were employed to synthesize SAM. The recombinant I303V MAT variant was successfully produced at approximately 900 mg/L in a 10-L bioreactor and exhibited significantly less product inhibition and had a four-fold higher specific activity (14.2 U/mg) than the wild-type MAT (3.6 U/mg). To reduce the mass transfer resistance, the free whole-cells were permeabilized and immobilized using gellan gum gel as support in the presence of 100 mg/L Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and the highest activity (4152.4 U/L support) was obtained, with 78.2% of the activity recovery. The immobilized cells were more stable than the free cells under non-reactive conditions, with a half-life of 9.1 h at 50 °C. Furthermore, the magnetically immobilized cells were employed to produce SAM at a 40-mM scale. The residual activity of the immobilized cells was 67% of its initial activity after 10 reuses, and the conversion rate of ATP was ≥95% in all 10 batches. These results indicated that magnetically immobilized cells should be a promising biocatalyst for the biosynthesis of SAM.

Differences between single and double-pass schlieren imaging on diesel vapor spray characteristics

The use of schlieren imaging at high acquisition rate has been adopted as a standard optical technique for the analysis of vaporizing diesel sprays under engine-like conditions. A single-pass schlieren arrangement is typically used for the study of axially drilled single-orifice nozzles, as vessels with multiple optical accesses regularly allow line of sight visualization. Contrarily, for multi-spray nozzles, measurements are commonly performed through a single optical access, in which case a double-pass arrangement is employed. As a consequence, the light beams pass through the test section twice, increasing the optical sensitivity of the schlieren setup. However, the influence this has on the macroscopic spray characteristics is still unclear. The scope of this study is to analyze the differences in vapor phase penetration and spreading angle measured for the same injection event, through high-speed imaging, for both single and double-pass schlieren configurations. Experiments were carried out with a three hole nozzle with a nominal orifice diameter of 90μm, named Spray B from the Engine Combustion Network, using commercially available diesel fuel and in non-reactive conditions. The impact of different injection pressures, chamber temperatures and densities on the spray captured by each setup was assessed. On the results, vapor phase penetration and spreading angle followed the expected trend found in the literature, for the different boundary conditions tested. Comparing the optical setups, vapor phase penetration and spreading angle results obtained with the double-pass arrangement were marginally higher than those from the single-pass. The deviation was observed throughout all tested conditions. For spray tip penetration, although the discrepancy was approximately constant for different injection pressures and chamber temperature, it increased with increasing density. These results highlight the importance of a proper understanding regarding the limitations of optical diagnostics, in particular for results used in calibration of computational models.

Numerical and Experimental Studies on a Syngas-Fired Ultra Low NOx Combustor

Simulations and exhaust measurements of temperature and pollutants in a syngas-fired model trapped vortex combustor for stationary power generation applications are reported. Numerical simulations employing Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large eddy simulations (LES) with presumed probability distribution function (PPDF) model were also carried out. Mixture fraction profiles in the trapped vortex combustor (TVC) cavity for nonreacting conditions show that LES simulations are able to capture the mean mixing field better than the RANS-based approach. This is attributed to the prediction of the jet decay rate and is reflected on the mean velocity magnitude fields, which reinforce this observation at different sections in the cavity. Both RANS and LES simulations show close agreement with the experimentally measured OH concentration; however, the RANS approach does not perform satisfactorily in capturing the trend of velocity magnitude. LES simulations satisfactorily capture the trend observed in exhaust measurements which is primarily attributed to the flame stabilization mechanism. In the exhaust measurements, mixing enhancement struts were employed, and their effect was evaluated. The exhaust temperature pattern factor was found to be poor for baseline cases, but improved with the introduction of struts. NO emissions were steadily below 3 ppm across various flow conditions, whereas CO emissions tended to increase with increasing momentum flux ratios (MFRs) and mainstream fuel addition. Combustion efficiencies ∼96% were observed for all conditions. The performance characteristics were found to be favorable at higher MFRs with low pattern factors and high combustion efficiencies.

In-situ measurement of residence time distributions in a turbulent oxy-fuel gas-flame combustor

For improving the design of combustors, the knowledge of residence-time distributions (RTD) is important as they influence exhaust gas compositions. Measuring RTDs in combustors is challenging, due to high temperatures, chemical reactions, the presence of particles or corrosive species as well as high turbulence levels. This paper presents a technique for the in situ measurement of RTDs in combustors. Based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), the temporal evolution of the concentration of tracers is tracked simultaneously at the combustion chamber inlet and outlet. Using either air or mixtures of oxygen and carbon dioxide (oxy-fuel atmosphere) as oxidants, the method is applied to reacting and non-reacting operating conditions in a 20-kWth methane combustor. For reacting conditions, hydrogen chloride is used as a tracer, whereas for non-reacting conditions methane was chosen. Depending on the tracer, for a repetition rate of approximately 2 kHz detection limits of 16–40 ppmV are achieved. For deriving RTDs, low-pass filtering is compared to reactor network modeling. Different RTDs observed for varying operating conditions are discussed.

Numerical study of reacting flow characteristics of a 2D twin cavity trapped vortex combustor

In the present work, reacting flow characteristics of a 2D trapped vortex combustor (TVC) have been investigated numerically. Turbulent flow prevailing in the combustor is modelled using the two equation shear stress transport (SST) k-ω model and the turbulence–chemistry interactions are modelled using the eddy dissipation concept (EDC) model. Validation study reveals that the data generated by numerical model for reacting flow cases matches reasonably well with the experimental data. Simulation results indicate that for a particular operating condition, the flow structure within the cavity for reacting flow cases is significantly different from non-reacting flow cases. Besides this, under reacting flow condition, the vortex core location shifts with variation in operating condition. This study also reveals significant differences in the velocity gradient at the shear layer between reacting and non-reacting flow conditions. Furthermore, the turbulent kinetic energy at the cavity zone increases for the reacting flow condition, which is attributed to the volume expansion associated with the combustion processes. Also, temperature contours at locations downstream of the trailing edge indicate that both cavity flames are merged together for higher primary air velocity cases, and this is essential for efficient performance of TVC.

Photochemical Processes in a Rhenium(I) Tricarbonyl N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complex Studied by Time-Resolved Measurements.

We carried out time-resolved infrared (TR-IR) and emission lifetime measurements on a Re(I) carbonyl complex having an N-heterocyclic carbene ligand, namely, fac-[Re(CO)3(PyImPh)Br], under photochemically reactive (in solution in acetonitrile) and nonreactive (in solution in dichloromethane) conditions to investigate the mechanism of photochemical ligand substitution reactions. The TR-IR measurements revealed that no reaction occurs on a picosecond time scale and the cationic product, namely, fac-[Re(CO)3(PyImPh)(MeCN)]+, is produced on a nanosecond time scale only in solution in acetonitrile, which indicates that the reaction proceeds thermally from the excited state. Because no other products were observed by TR-IR, we concluded that this cationic product is an intermediate species for further reactions. The measurements of the temperature-dependent emission lifetime and analysis using transition-state theory revealed that the photochemical substitution reaction proceeds from a metal-to-ligand charge transfer excited state, the structure of which allows the potential coordination of a solvent molecule. Thus, the coordinating capacity of the solvent determines whether the reaction proceeds or not. This mechanism is different from those of photochemical reactions of other types of Re(I) carbonyl complexes owing to the unique characteristics of the carbene ligand.