Probing the Chemical Kinetics of Minimalist Functional Group Gasoline Surrogates

• Published in: Energy & fuels 2021-02, Vol.35 (4), p.3315-3332
• Main Authors: Ilieş, Bogdan Dragoş, Khandavilli, Muralikrishna, Li, Yang, Kukkadapu, Goutham, Wagnon, Scott W, Abdul Jameel, Abdul Gani, Sarathy, S. Mani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: chemical kinetics; Combustion; combustion chemistry; functional groups; gasoline surrogates; ignition delay times; INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c02815

Surrogate mixtures are routinely used for understanding gasoline fuel combustion in engine simulations. The general trend in surrogate formulation has been to increase the number of fuel components in a mixture to better emulate real fuel properties. Recently, a new surrogate design strategy based on functional group analysis of real gasolines was proposed using a minimal number of species [minimalist functional group (MFG)approach]. MFG surrogates (having just one or two components) could experimentally capture the ignition delay time (IDT), threshold sooting index, and smoke point of different gasoline fuels with hundreds of components. However, other combustion characteristics were not explored, and kinetic modeling of MFG surrogates was not reported. These aspects are addressed in this paper, where the combustion behavior of MFG surrogates for various gasolines was assessed by simulating IDT, jet-stirred reactor oxidation, and premixed laminar flame speeds using chemical kinetic modeling. MFG simulations were compared with experimental data of the real gasolines as well as with the more complex multicomponent (five to nine species) surrogates. This study reveals that binary MFG surrogate mixtures are capable of accurately simulating the combustion behavior of more complex gasoline fuels with hundreds of components.