Jiaqi Zhang , Philipp Morsch , Heiko Minwegen , Florian vom Lehn , Xudong Wu , Karl Alexander Heufer , Heinz Pitsch , Liming Cai
{"title":"Insights into the underlying reaction kinetics of gasoline–ethanol interactions and their effects on the auto-ignition characteristics of gasoline/ethanol blends","authors":"Jiaqi Zhang , Philipp Morsch , Heiko Minwegen , Florian vom Lehn , Xudong Wu , Karl Alexander Heufer , Heinz Pitsch , Liming Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100333","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100333","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ethanol-blended gasolines show enhanced anti-knock behavior in spark-ignition engines. Fundamental experimental investigations on their auto-ignition behavior are however scarce in the literature. In addition, previous numerical studies present diverse explanations for the effects of ethanol blending on the ignition delay times of gasoline/ethanol blends. These factors motivate the present study, aiming to extend the knowledge on the ignition of gasoline/ethanol blends and the understanding of the underlying reaction kinetics. For this purpose, ignition delay time measurements of the mixtures of a real gasoline fuel blended with ethanol were carried out in a shock tube and a rapid compression machine for range of conditions with respect to temperature, pressure, equivalence ratio, and blending ratio. Numerical modeling of the fuel ignition was performed based on a chemical mechanism, which is proposed in this study to predict the obtained data accurately. The reported datasets, in conjunction with the numerical analyses, demonstrate the significant mitigating impact of ethanol blending on the gasoline reactivity in the low- and intermediate-temperature ranges. It is found that, while the ignition delay times at intermediate temperatures are influenced by both physical dilution and chemical kinetic effects, the retarded ignition at low temperatures below 700 K is solely attributed to the chemical interaction of gasoline surrogate and ethanol in terms of OH radical competition. The OH radical scavenging character of ethanol also leads to a non-linear blending behavior. At high temperatures, the blending of ethanol accelerates the auto-ignition slightly, owing to its moderately higher reactivity at these conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100333"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143760472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thermite combustion: Current trends in modeling and future perspectives","authors":"Alain Esteve, Carole Rossi","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Aluminum-based reactive composites, such as thermites, represent a unique class of energetic materials characterized by their high energy densities, tunability in combustion properties and safety. Prepared using techniques such as mechanical mixing, milling, and physical vapor deposition, these materials are promising for achieving energetic functions beyond the capabilities of traditional energetic materials. Applications include thermal plugging, smart initiation, pyro-fusing in civilian devices where the use of explosives is not feasible. Unfortunately, engineers and researchers face the lack of predictive combustion models to optimize the thermite materials to a given application. The reason is the insufficient knowledge and quantification of reaction and combustion mechanisms and the key variables governing them. That is why, over the past decades, several approaches and models ranging from atomic-scale modeling to macroscopic simulations using computational fluid dynamics, were developed and are reviewed in this article. These methods provided insights into key reaction pathways, ignition mechanisms, and flame propagation dynamics. Despite these advancements, substantial gaps remain, particularly in capturing multiphase flow dynamics and suboxides condensation/nucleation process during the combustion at high temperature. Boundary-resolved transient direct numerical simulation approach and particle-resolved numerical techniques will allow acquiring knowledge in gas–particle and particle–particle interaction. Recent breakthroughs in machine learning will further accelerate the design and optimization of thermites by enabling the establishment of predictive quantitative structure–property relationships in complement of heavy detailed physical models. This review highlights foundational theoretical developments for thermite materials, and emphasize the need for interdisciplinary efforts particularly between fluid dynamicists and condensed matter physicists to realize the full potential of these versatile energetic materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100332"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143739216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arto Rautioaho , Henri Pauna , Mikko Jokinen , Oskari Seppälä , Elsa Busson , Lukas Sankowski , Ville-Valtteri Visuri , Timo Fabritius
{"title":"Applicability of Optical Emission Spectroscopy for Industrial Flame Analysis with Hydrogen and Natural Gas Mixtures Based on Laboratory Study","authors":"Arto Rautioaho , Henri Pauna , Mikko Jokinen , Oskari Seppälä , Elsa Busson , Lukas Sankowski , Ville-Valtteri Visuri , Timo Fabritius","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100329","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100329","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates optical emission spectroscopy as an analysis method for hydrogen and natural gas burner flames relevant to industrial use. The equipment used was a low-cost industrial spectrometer, which measures light in the wavelength range of 500–1000 nm. Measurements were conducted with an open flame burner and a burner-heated furnace, with different mixture ratios of natural gas and hydrogen. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the relative amount of thermal radiation and soot particles from an open flame can be approximated using optical spectra. When adding hydrogen to a natural gas flame, the solid angle of soot particles rises by the first 5–16% of hydrogen, leading to higher thermal radiation. With higher shares of hydrogen, the solid angle of soot particles decreases radically, leading to lower thermal radiation. The temperatures that were measured from the optical spectra based on radiation from soot particles show that the flame's temperature could be measured up to 46% share of hydrogen. In the burner-heated furnace, the intensive thermal radiation from the inner walls gets mixed with the radiation from the flame, making it easier to determine the temperature of the wall rather than the flame itself. The study also presents the spectroscopic differences between different gas mixtures. In addition, the background phenomena and practical effects of these differences are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100329"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143621526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the potential of using mixture stratification for reducing the flashback propensity of hydrogen flames","authors":"Faizan Habib Vance, Arne Scholtissek","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100327","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100327","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hydrogen burns without carbon emissions and can be produced from renewable energy sources. However, hydrogen premixed flames are prone to flashback due to (1) higher burning velocities and (2) stronger preferential diffusion effects compared to hydrocarbon flames. An intentional reduction of flashback propensity is a major challenge for researchers in academia as well as engineers in industry. The root cause of the problem revolves around hydrogen flames stabilizing near sharp edges, where they burn stronger due to flow straining and flame curvature. Since the boundary layer flashback is initiated near the flame base, a localized reduction in the flame speed could hold the key to a corresponding improvement of flashback limits while keeping similar power outputs. To this end, we propose a stratification strategy in which the mixture near the burner wall is made leaner while the bulk mixture is made richer such that the mean equivalence ratio remains constant. Using fully resolved simulations, it is shown that a small stratification near the burner wall can significantly improve the flashback limits while keeping similar thermal output. Geometrical parameters are varied to demonstrate the efficacy of this solution. Conceptual designs for burner nozzles are also presented which could yield the desired stratification profiles at the burner exit, <em>e.g.</em> given sufficient flexibility in burner design utilizing additive manufacturing techniques. Overall, this study provides a practical solution for improving the flashback limits of hydrogen premixed flames.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100327"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143594271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Perspective industry papers on combustion","authors":"Bassam Dally , José L. Torero","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2024.100315","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2024.100315","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100315"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Special issue on “Production, Storage and Utilization of Hydrogen”","authors":"Youjun Lu , Kui Jiao","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2024.100314","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2024.100314","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100314"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143548015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Development of compact mechanism for lithium-ion battery venting gas fires using Cantera ordinary differential equation neural network algorithm","authors":"Mengjie Li, Hao Hu, Li Lu, Huangwei Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100326","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100326","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lithium-ion battery fires pose significant challenges to the development of electric vehicles and energy storage systems due to their potential hazards and complex combustion behavior. To address these issues, this work develops the Cantera Ordinary Differential Equation Neural Network (CODENN) algorithm, which combines the computational power of neural ordinary differential equations with Cantera's advanced chemical kinetics modeling. This integration allows for the optimization of a wide range of chemical reactions, improving both the precision and versatility of reaction mechanism development. Using CODENN, a compact mechanism (COM) was developed by optimizing the Arrhenius parameters of the RED mechanism, which had been overly reduced from the detailed CRECK2003 mechanism (114 species, 1999 reactions). CRECK2003 was chosen for its proven accuracy in predicting the combustion properties of LIB venting gases. The resulting COM mechanism, with 30 species and 213 reactions, achieves a high fidelity of 94.8 % in predicting ignition delay times across equivalence ratios from 0.3 to 2.5, demonstrating the reliability and robustness of CODENN algorithm. Further analysis of speciation data and CO net production rates shows that the COM mechanism closely aligns with the species evolution of the ORI mechanism during autoignition, while exhibiting notably more intense CO production and consumption than the ORI mechanism. Path flux analysis indicates that, despite having shorter reaction chains than the ORI mechanism, the COM mechanism preserves the fundamental physical logic of fuel consumption (CH₄) leading to H₂O formation while introducing additional pathways for the generation and consumption of H and OH radicals. Sensitivity analysis across diverse equivalence ratios and temperatures consistently identifies reaction R5 (H + O₂ ≤> O + OH) as the most temperature-sensitive reaction, underscoring its critical role in reaction kinetics of LIB venting gases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100326"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143509642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards detailed combustion characteristics and linear stability analysis of premixed ammonia‒hydrogen‒air mixtures","authors":"Jun Cheng, Bo Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, premixed ammonia‒hydrogen‒air mixtures at different pressures (50∼300 kPa), equivalence ratios (0.7∼1.5), and hydrogen concentrations (9∼50.00 %) were centrally ignited in a closed vessel, and the propagation of a spherical flame was recorded via a high-speed schlieren system. To accurately measure the laminar burning velocity, an AI model (RTMDet model) was trained on the schlieren images obtained in the experiments to mark the flame profile and calculate the flame area. The corresponding laminar combustion parameters were measured. Additionally, linear stability theory was applied to evaluate the critical conditions for the onset of flame instability. The results indicate that the hydrodynamic instability exhibits greater sensitivity to the initial pressure and equivalent ratio, whereas the molecular diffusion is remarkably sensitive to the hydrogen concentration in lean conditions. For the lean mixture, flame destabilization is enhanced by the thermal‒diffusion instability and curvature effect, whereas for the rich mixture, both the hydrodynamic instability and thermal‒diffusion instability is diminished, and flame stabilization is determined by the stretching effect. The critical Peclet number monotonically decreases as the equivalence ratio decreases and the hydrogen concentration increases. Hydrodynamic instability consistently promotes flame destabilization, whereas thermal-diffusion instability does not invariably contribute positively; for the lean mixtures, both the strain rate and curvature make the flame unstable, whereas they make the flame stable for the rich mixtures. The hydrogen concentration has a relatively limited effect on the strain rate and curvature. Additionally, the critical Karlovitz number indicates that flames in rich conditions are less susceptible to disturbances and instability. This study enhances the understanding of intrinsic instability mechanisms during flame propagation in ammonia‒hydrogen blended fuels, improves insights into their combustion characteristics, and provides a reference for optimizing combustion performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100325"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143465507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peter Lang , Nils E. Schneider , Franz J.T. Huber , Stefan Will
{"title":"Characterization of the SpraySyn 2.0 burner: Droplet diameters, flame stability and particle sizes","authors":"Peter Lang , Nils E. Schneider , Franz J.T. Huber , Stefan Will","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100324","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100324","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spray flame synthesis (SFS) is a promising technique for the production of metal-oxide nanoparticles. However, the processes involved during the synthesis are not yet fully understood. To provide a common workbench for a wide range of investigations, the standardized <em>SpraySyn</em> burners have been introduced. This work presents an in-depth investigation of the improved <em>SpraySyn 2.0</em> burner, characterizing important droplet, combustion and particle features. The sizes of the droplets produced from an ignited ethanol spray are measured in a range between 20 mm and 45 mm height above the burner (HAB) employing wide-angle light scattering (WALS), revealing much smaller droplets compared to previous <em>SpraySyn 1.0</em>, which eventually leads to faster evaporation. Flame fluctuations are investigated using high-speed imaging of the flame chemiluminescence, indicating a change in fluctuation behaviour compared to the previous burner. WALS is also employed for single-shot in situ size measurements of produced iron-oxide and titanium-dioxide nanoparticles at various HABs ranging from 30 mm to 210 mm, allowing to observe the particle growth. To further assess the properties of the produced particles, extensive TEM measurements for both particle systems are conducted and evaluated. Finally, the influence of flame pulsations on particle size is investigated by coupling chemiluminescence imaging with WALS, yielding no correlation between both.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100324"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143621527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"bio-FLASHCHAIN® theory for rapid devolatilization of biomass. 10. Validations for agricultural residues","authors":"Stephen Niksa","doi":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100323","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jaecs.2025.100323","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study further validates a reaction mechanism called <em>bio</em>-FLASHCHAIN® to simulate the rapid primary devolatilization of any agricultural residue (AgRes) at any operating conditions. The evaluations cover 42 residues with alkali and alkaline earth metal (AAEM) levels to 2.8 dry wt. % at temperatures from 200 to 1050 °C; heating rates from 1 to 5000 °C/s; contact times to 1800 s; and pressures from vacuum to atmospheric. Collectively, the test data cover the yields and elemental compositions of oils and char and the yields of CO, CO<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>O, and H<sub>2</sub>. <em>Bio</em>-FC™ accurately simulates complete product distributions over this domain and correctly depicts how variations in heating rate, temperature, contact time, pressure, and AAEM loading shift these distributions. Proximate and ultimate analyses, the percentages of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, and AAEM loadings are required input.</div><div>This study demonstrates, for the first time, accurate extrapolations across nearly the entire range of heating rates in the target commercial applications, based on two independent kinetic aspects. First, the placement of a devolatilization history in temperature is determined by the absolute rates of depolymerization and charring for each major component in the biomass; and, second, differences in ultimate yields for multiple heating rates scale on the ratios of the rates of depolymerization and charring. The interpretations for two disparate heating rates each for four AgRes gave activation energies for both depolymerization and monomer decomposition that varied by 50 – 60 kJ/mol in each of the major components, in stark contrast with the uniform energies used to previously interpret wood devolatilization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100104,"journal":{"name":"Applications in Energy and Combustion Science","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100323"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143420334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}