Numerical Evaluation of Pollutants Emissions in a Homogeneous Methane/Air Micro Flame

Abstract

Exhausting pollutant gas in a plug flow micro reactor are identified, described and predicted in this paper. For this, a premixed methane/air micro flame was simulated by a simplified chemical kinetics mechanism with four equations of Jones and Lindstedt. In addition to the Jones and Lindstedt model, one chemical kinetic mechanism with three equations describing the formation of thermal NO was integrated in Comsol 4.2a code, all that equations describing the production process and disappearance of the major chemical species. Simulations in stoichiometric and lean conditions with equivalent ratio ф equal to 0.9 and 0.7 show that the simulations with Jones and Lindstedt model provide a stable flame with the temperatures of the same order as that obtained with a detailed chemical kinetic mechanism as reported in the literature. Production of carbon dioxide (CO2) varies with the richness of the mixture. It is high with ф = 1 and in the order of 250 ppm, this value remains smaller than the required threshold for breathable air. Carbon monoxide (CO) is not found in the products of combustion due to the high temperatures at the outlet of the microreactor in the three cases