| dc.description.abstract | Dimethyl Carbonate (DMC) is a carbonate ester that can be produced in environment-friendly ways, from sources such as biomass or methanol and CO2. DMC can be used as a diesel fuel additive and is also one of the main components of the flammable electrolyte used in Li-ion batteries. Studying the combustion chemistry of DMC can therefore improve the use of biofuels and help in developing safer Li-ion batteries. The combustion chemistry of DMC has been investigated in a limited number of studies, and a few detailed kinetics models have been proposed in literature. The aim of this study was to complement the scarce data available for DMC combustion in the literature and to improve a detailed kinetic model.
Shock tubes were used to measure time histories of CO and H2O using tunable laser absorption techniques for the first time for DMC. Characteristic reaction times were also measured through OH* emission. Shock-tube spectroscopic measurements were performed under dilute conditions, at three equivalence ratios (fuel-lean, stoichiometric, and fuel-rich) between 1260 and 1660 K near 1.3±0.2 atm, and under pyrolysis conditions (98%+) ranging from 1230 to 2500 K near 1.3±0.2 atm. The model comparison and validation were further broadened using new laminar flame speed data collected in CNRS ICARE, France. Flame speeds at 318 K, 363 K and 464 K measured for equivalence ratios of 0.7-1.5 in a spherical vessel around atmospheric pressure were used to further extend the range of conditions investigated. Detailed kinetics models from the literature were compared to the data, and it was found that none can accurately predict the new data over the entire range of conditions investigated. A numerical analysis was performed, and updates to the most accurate model allowed for a significant improvement of the predictions for DMC combustion. | en |
