Experimental and numerical kinetic study of OME2 and OME3 combustion in low-pressure laminar flames

Abstract

The urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has motivated extensive research into renewable energy sources, particularly the studies on e-fuels, the liquid and gaseous fuels synthesized from electricity. Oxymethylene ethers (OMEs) have garnered significant attention as promising e-fuels within the context of the transition to sustainable energy systems, especially for the scenario of long-range transportation and extended storage. Understanding the oxidation kinetics of OMEs remains a prerequisite to optimizing their combustion. This study aims to elucidate the combustion chemistry and oxidation kinetics of longer-chain OMEs, namely OME2 and OME3. The premixed laminar stoichiometric flames of OME2 and OME3 are stabilized at 50 mbar and measured by molecular beam mass spectrometry (MBMS) in terms of speciation profiles. By following the reaction classes, a detailed mechanism including OME2 is developed on the basis of our previous studies, which shows a good agreement with the experimental results of main species as well as important intermediates from OME2 flames. It is observed that OME1 chemistry plays a crucial role in the combustion of long-chain-length OMEs, and the species pool and reaction pathway of fuel oxidation is nearly independent of the chain length of OMEs