Quantitative optical diagnostics on macroscopic soot onset for ethylene diffusion flames with ethyl ester addition.

Area of Science:

• Combustion Science
• Optical Diagnostics
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Soot formation in diffusion flames is a critical issue in combustion, impacting efficiency and emissions.
• Accurate determination of soot onset is essential for controlling combustion processes.
• Existing methods for soot diagnostics may lack precision or require complex setups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel quantitative optical diagnostics method for determining the soot onset threshold.
• To investigate the effect of ethyl ester additives on soot formation in ethylene diffusion flames.
• To provide a reliable reference for soot diagnostics in various flame types.

Main Methods:

• Development of a quantitative optical diagnostics method utilizing proportional discrimination of trichromatic luminescence.
• Implementation of a nonparametric and unsupervised automatic threshold selection algorithm.
• Experimental demonstration using ethylene diffusion flames with varying ethyl ester additions.

Main Results:

• The proposed method precisely determined the macroscopic soot onset threshold.
• Ethyl ester addition was found to significantly suppress soot onset in ethylene diffusion flames.
• The optical diagnostics method proved effective for quantitative soot analysis.

Conclusions:

• A novel, precise optical method for soot onset determination has been successfully developed and validated.
• Ethyl esters effectively mitigate soot formation in diffusion flames.
• The developed method serves as a valuable tool for soot diagnostics in combustion research.