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AN EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF FUNDAMENTAL
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES OF BIOFUELS
by
Yang Lee Wang
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(MECHANICAL ENGINEERING)
August 2011
Copyright 2011 Yang Lee Wang
Object Description
| Title | An experimental and numerical investigation of fundamental combustion properties of biofuels |
| Author | Wang, Yang Lee |
| Author email | lee.wang.3@gmail.com;lee.wang.3@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Mechanical Engineering |
| School | Viterbi School of Engineering |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-04-13 |
| Date submitted | 2011-08-08 |
| Date approved | 2011-08-08 |
| Restricted until | 2011-08-08 |
| Date published | 2011-08-08 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Egolfopoulos, Fokion N. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Tsotsis, Theodore T. Wang, Hai |
| Abstract | Presently, there is broad world interest in advancing the characterization, understanding, and use of biofuels, which are produced from a variety of cellulosic sources or organic matter, as they constitute one of the most viable and affordable partial solutions to reduce dependence on conventional petroleum. Additionally, they are more environmentally friendly as their use produces significant savings in net CO₂ emissions. Biofuels encompass many distinct classes of chemical species, such as alcohols, ethers, and esters. In this study, the oxidation of several selected biofuels, namely the two isomers dimethyl ether (DME) and ethanol, as well as a group of alkyl esters, ranging from C₂ to C₁₁, that can act as surrogates of actual biodiesels, were investigated in both premixed and non-premixed flames. The experiments were conducted in the counterflow configuration at ambient pressure and elevated temperatures generally over a wide range of fuel/oxidizer ratios. Fundamental flame properties such as laminar flame speeds and local extinction limits were determined by measuring flow velocities using digital particle image velocimetry. The alkyl ester data were compared against those derived for flames of n-alkanes of similar carbon number, in order to assess the effects of saturation, the length of carbon-chain, and the presence of the ester group. A number of detailed chemical kinetic models were tested against the experimental data, and insight was provided into the high-temperature oxidation kinetics and controlling physico-chemical processes in flame environments. Several pertinent issues, including the accuracy of the Lennard-Jones potential parameters assigned to fuel species in the transport databases and the effect of discrepancies in the rate constants of several pertinent reactions, among different models, on the predictions of flame propagation and extinction, were addressed. Overall, this study constitutes part of a larger effort to study the fundamental combustion and emission characteristics of biofuels and to understand the chemical differences that are at the root of their different combustion performance. |
| Keyword | combustion; chemical kinetics; biofuels |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Wang, Yang Lee |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume71/etd-WangYangLe-256.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | AN EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF FUNDAMENTAL COMBUSTION PROPERTIES OF BIOFUELS by Yang Lee Wang A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (MECHANICAL ENGINEERING) August 2011 Copyright 2011 Yang Lee Wang |
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