Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are omnipresent in the interstellar medium (ISM) and also in carbonaceous meteorites (CM) such as Murchison. However, the basic reaction routes leading to the formation of even the simplest PAH-naphthalene (C10 H8 )-via the hydrogen-abstraction/acetylene-addition (HACA) mechanism still remain ambiguous. Here, by revealing the uncharted fundamental chemist...

A new laser technology which achieves nearly 100 nm quasi-continuous tuning using only injection current control in a four-section Grating-Coupler, Sampled-Reflector (GCSR) laser was used to simultaneously detect CO and CO2 in room-temperature gas mixtures. The same GCSR laser was used to perform in-situ measurements of CO, H2O, and OH in the exhaust gases of a methane/air flame. This laser is ...

Catalytic combustion is a promising technique for producing thermal energy in MEMS(Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) scale electrical power generators. To examine the feasibility and possible benefits of catalytic combustion in MEMS-scale channels, catalytic reactions in small diameter (1 mm) flow reactor tubes at low Reynolds numbers are simulated by using the commercial fluid dynamics code FL...

Combustion-based studies of the carbon-13 content of plants give only an integrated, long-term value for the isotope fractionation associated with photosynthesis. A method is described here which permits determination of this isotope fractionation in 2 to 3 hours. To accomplish this, the plant is enclosed in a glass chamber, and the quantity and isotopic content of the CO(2) remaining in the at...

The development of surrogate mixtures that represent gasoline combustion behavior is reviewed. Combustion chemistry behavioral targets that a surrogate should accurately reproduce, particularly for emulating homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) operation, are carefully identified. Both short and long term research needs to support development of more robust surrogate fuel compositions...

Normally one expects that flame contact is the major cause of injury and death during fires. Analysis of the factors involved in numerous fires has revealed that most deaths were not due to flame contact, but were a consequence of the production of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and other combustion products, such as aldehydes, low molecular weight alcohols, hydrogen cyanide, and other noxio...

A simultaneously time-resolved and calibration-free sensor has been demonstrated to measure temperature at the nanosecond timescale at repetition rates of 1.0 MHz. The sensor benefits from relying on a single laser, is intuitive and straightforward to implement, and can sweep across spectral ranges in excess of 1  cm⁻¹. The sensor can fully resolve rovibrational features of the CO molecule, nat...

A 3-D CFD model based on KIVA 3 code is developed with a “reduced” detailed chemical kinetics of 291 elementary reaction steps with 79 chemical species for diesel fuel combustion. The model was validated by the corresponding experimental results and employed to examine some important parameters which have significant effects on the engine performance for an IDI diesel engine with a swirl chambe...

Burning sulphur-laden transportation fuels results in misty and fuggy air of large cities. The combustion products of sulphur-laden fuels poison the exhaust conversion catalyst and invalidate the catalyst box. As results, the vehicle emission gets worse and worse no matter how advanced the auto technology is. Some sulphur compounds converted to sulphates after combustion and emitted into the at...

Detonation of the flow of a combustible mixture over a wedged channel is numerically simulated. A two-dimensional, time accurate, finite-volume-based method is used to perform the computations, and a five-species, two-step chemical reaction is assumed for a stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture. The combustion channel is made of a wedged section followed by a constant area section. The simulation...