Soot formation particles

Estimates of fuel sooting tendency have been made using various types of flames and chemical systems. In the context to be used here, the term sooting tendency generally refers to a qualitative or quantitative measure of the incipient soot particle formation rate. In many cases, this tendency varies strongly with the type of flame or combustion process under investigation. This variation is important because the incipient soot particle formation rate determines the soot volume fraction formed in a combustion system. 

Frenklach, M. Wang, H. Detailed mechanism and modeling of soot particle formation. In Soot Formation in Combustion Bockhorn, H., Ed. Springer Berlin, 1994 165. 

One of the more significant classes of compounds resulting from and emitted by combustion sources include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) these species serve as nuclei for the formation of soot particles. Past studies have concluded that 85% of... 

These residues are present in the exhaust gases within the soot particles and are irreversibly trapped in the DPF. They mainly consist of calcium sulfate (with other components containing zinc and iron). For the DPF technology using the fuel additivation, additives also participate in the residues formation. 

Mercury point sources and rates of particle scavenging are key factors in atmospheric transport rates to sites of methylation and subsequent entry into the marine food chain (Rolfhus and Fitzgerald 1995). Airborne soot particles transport mercury into the marine environment either as nuclei for raindrop formation or by direct deposition on water (Rawson etal. 1995). In early 1990, both dimethylmercury and monomethylmercury were found in the subthermocline waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean the formation of these alkylmercury species in the low oxygen zone suggests that Hg2+ is the most likely substrate (Mason and Fitzgerald 1991 Figure 5.1). 

Both models apply the same chemical scheme of mercury transformations. It is assumed that mercury occurs in the atmosphere in two gaseous forms—gaseous elemental HgO, gaseous oxidized Hg(II) particulate oxidized Hgpart, and four aqueous forms—elemental dissolved HgO dis, mercury ion Hg2+, sulphite complex Hg(S03)2, and aggregate chloride complexes HgnClm. Physical and chemical transformations include dissolution of HgO in cloud droplets, gas-phase and aqueous-phase oxidation by ozone and chlorine, aqueous-phase formation of chloride complexes, reactions of Hg2+ reduction through the decomposition of sulphite complex, and adsorption by soot particles in droplet water. 

For premixed fuel-air systems, results are reported in various terms that can be related to a critical equivalence ratio at which the onset of some yellow flame luminosity is observed. Premixed combustion studies have been performed primarily with Bunsen-type flames [52, 53], flat flames [54], and stirred reactors [55, 56], The earliest work [57, 58] on diffusion flames dealt mainly with axisymmetric coflow (coannular) systems in which the smoke height or the volumetric or mass flow rate of the fuel at this height was used as the correlating parameter. The smoke height is considered to be a measure of the fuel s particulate formation and growth rates but is controlled by the soot particle bumup. The specific references to this early work and that mentioned in subsequent paragraphs can be found in Ref. [50],... 

How this smoke effect varies with inert addition is best explained by considering the results of many early investigators who reported that incipient soot formation occurred in a very narrow temperature range. The various results are shown in Table 8.6. Since, as stated earlier, the incipient particle formation mechanisms for various fuels follow quite similar routes, it seems appropriate to conclude that a high activation energy process or processes control the incipient particle formation. The best concept and evidence to date is that given by Dobbins [77], It is likely that the slight variation of temperatures shown in Table 8.6 is attributable to the different experimental procedures... 

One of the earliest detailed diagnostic efforts on sooting of diffusion flames was that of Wagner et al. [86-88], who made laser scattering and extinction measurements, profile determinations of velocity by LDV, and temperature measurements by thermocouples on a Wolfhard-Parker burner using ethene as the fuel. Their results show quite clearly that soot particles are generated near the reaction zone and are convected farther toward the center of the fuel stream as they travel up the flame. The particle number densities and generation rates decline with distance from the flame zone. The soot formation rate appeared to... 

A detailed description of the chemical processes involved in soot formation was given in the previous chapter. Oxidation of soot particles is an important subject area because in most practical processes that form soot (e.g., diesel... 

Before we examine the oxidation pathways available to aromatic systems, it is first instructive to review the most notorious role of these compounds in combustion chemistry their propensity to lead to soot formation. Soot is a byproduct of fuel-rich combustion, and soot particles can affect respiration and general health in humans." Soot production is a result of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) formation in flames as reactive hydrocarbon radical intermediates combine to grow... 

Novakov, T., S. G. Chang, and A. B. Harker, Sulfates as Pollution Particles Catalytic Formation on Carbon (Soot) Particles, Science, 186, 259-261 (1974). 

The carbon content of MSW cannot be converted into C02 entirely, and due to incomplete combustion, minor amounts of CO and soot particles are found in the flue gases. The particulate carbon is known to be involved in the formation of volatile and toxic compounds especially poly-chlorodibenzo-dioxins and -furanes. Tests in the fully working incinerator plants revealed the presence of particulate carbon, chlorides, and Cu compounds as catalysts in the fly ash (see also Table 3). 

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