Detailed investigation of the combustion of gaseous fuels at pressure levels up to 200 bar

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Alexander Heufer
• Subject Area: Energy Process Engineering ; Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 322460823

Gaseous fuels are of rising interest in transport and electricity generation. They can be obtained from natural gas reservoirs or synthetically produced via gasification processes. Current research also investigates the opportunity to produce gaseous fuels from biomass or power opening pathways for a sustainable fuel production with an overall low carbon dioxide footprint. Depending on the source, these fuels can have significant altering compositions which have a direct impact on the combustion performance and operability limits of gas engines or gas turbines. On this regard, a detailed understanding of the combustion behavior of the various fuel compositions is required in order to achieve maximum efficiency and minimum pollutant emissions. While various fundamental previous works focusing on high temperatures or lower pressures can be found in literature, there is a lack of information in the high-pressure and low-temperature regime that is highly relevant for modern gas engines. The aim of the present proposal is to provide this critical information by a combined experimental and theoretical approach. Ignition delay time (IDT) measurements at higher pressures (> 50 bar) for non-diluted fuel in air mixtures will be performed in a unique high-pressure rapid compression machine (RCM) and a shock tube (ST). These measurements give vital information regarding the fuel’s reactivity and auto-ignition tendency. Furthermore, these experimental results will help to optimize kinetic models and serve as validation targets for conditions that couldn’t be investigated before. Finally, more detailed information will be obtained from gas sampling experiments. With the help of this technique, gas samples can be taken from the reactor in order to identify intermediate species that are formed during the auto-ignition process. This kind of information is highly valuable for achieving more accurate and robust kinetic models. The resulting kinetic models can then be used in computer-aided engineering for designing optimal combustor layouts and analyzing the formation of pollutants.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants