Explosion limits and oxidation characteristics of hydrocarbons

The approach is to start with analysis of the smallest of the hydrocarbon molecules, methane. It is interesting that the combustion mechanism of methane was for a long period of time the least understood. In recent years, however, there have been many studies of methane, so that to a large degree its specific oxidation mechanisms are known over various ranges of temperatures. Now among the best understood, these mechanisms will be detailed later in this chapter. 

The higher-order hydrocarbons, particularly propane and above, oxidize much more slowly than hydrogen and are known to form metastable molecules that are important in explaining the explosion limits of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The existence of these metastable molecules makes it possible to explain qualitatively the unique explosion limits of the complex hydrocarbons and to gain some insights into what the oxidation mechanisms are likely to be. 

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E. Explosion Limits and Oxidation Characteristics of Hydrocarbons The ring structure of benzene is written in shorthand as either... 

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