Shock tube measurements of the rate constant for the reaction ethanol + OH.

The overall rate constant for the reaction ethanol + OH → products was determined experimentally from 900 to 1270 K behind reflected shock waves. Ethan18ol was utilized for these measurements in order to avoid the recycling of OH radicals following H-atom abstraction at the β-site of ethanol. Similar experiments were also performed with unlabeled ethan 16ol in order to infer the rate constant that excludes reactivity at the β-site. The two data sets were used to directly infer the branching ratio for the reaction at the β-site. Experimental data in the current study and in previous low-temperature studies for the overall rate constant are best fit by the expression koverall = 5.07 × 105 T[K]2.31 exp(608/T[K]) cm3 mol-1 s -1, valid from 300 to 1300 K. Measurements indicate that the branching ratio of the β-site is between 20 and 25% at the conditions studied. Pseudo-first-order reaction conditions were generated using tert-butylhydroperoxide (TBHP) as a fast source of 16OH with ethanol in excess. 16OH mole fraction time-histories were measured using narrow-line width laser absorption near 307 nm. Measurements were performed at the linecenter of the R22(5.5) transition in the A-X(0,0) band of 16OH that does not overlap with any absorption features of 18OH, thus producing a measurement of the 16OH mole fraction that is insensitive to the presence of 18OH

On the High-Temperature Combustion of n

The combustion of n-butanol has received significant interest in recent years, because of its potential use in transportation applications. Researchers have extensively studied its combustion chemistry, using both experimental and theoretical methods; however, additional work is needed under specific conditions to improve our understanding of n-butanol combustion. In this study, we report new OH time-history data during the high-temperature oxidation of n-butanol behind reflected shock waves over the temperature range of 1300-1550 K and at pressures near 2 atm. These data were obtained at Stanford University, using narrow-line-width ring dye laser absorption of the R1(5) line of OH near 306.7 nm. Measured OH time histories were modeled using comprehensive n-butanol literature mechanisms. It was found that n-butanol unimolecular decomposition rate constants commonly used in chemical kinetic models, as well as those determined from theoretical studies, are unable to predict the data presented herein. Therefore, an improved high-temperature mechanism is presented here, which incorporates recently reported rate constants measured in a single pulse shock tube [C. M. Rosado-Reyes and W. Tsang, J. Phys. Chem. A 2012, 116, 9825-9831]. Discussions are presented on the validity of the proposed mechanism against other literature shock tube experiments. © 2013 American Chemical Society