Feasibility on equivalence ratio measurement via OH*, CH*, and C2* chemiluminescence and study of soot emissions in co-flow non-premixed DME/C1–C2 hydrocarbon flames

The effects of dimethyl ether (DME) addition to methane and ethylene fuels on the combustion characteristics of heat release, soot emissions, and flame temperature were investigated experimentally and numerically in a non-premixed laminar flame configuration. The flame-heat release soot-volume fraction was measured experimentally using CH*, OH*, and C2* chemiluminescence and planar two-color soot pyrometry, respectively. The CH*, OH*, and C2* were used to locate flame-heat release regions as well as to investigate the soot signal’s effect on their measurements. The ratios of the chemiluminescence pairs (OH*/CH* and OH*/C2*) were studied for the feasibility of map local equivalence ratios. Numerical calculations across a full range of DME mixing ratios were performed through 1D laminar flame simulations implemented with a detailed mechanism to provide an indication of the flame structures and profiles of key species including OH*, OH, CH*, CH, CH3, C3H3, C2H2, heat release rate (HRR), and flame temperature. An existing developed soot model was used in a 2D computational study to investigate its validity for modeling soot for DME (oxygenated fuel)/C2H4/N2 flames. Parametric studies have been carried out on some key parameters in the soot model to find optimum values that can be used in future studies. Although soot radiation intensities increased at a small amount (25%vol) of DME addition in the DME/methane flames, the soot pyrometry results showed a reduced soot volume fraction with an increased DME mixture ratio in both DME/methane and DME/ethylene flames studied, agreeing with the key conclusion of 1D numerical results. The flame HRR decreases with the increasing addition of DME to methane and ethylene flames and correlates with the trend of OH* and CH* profiles. The 1D simulation showed a non-monotonic correlation between OH*/CH* ratios and equivalence ratios, implying a limited use of OH*/CH* for the equivalence ratio measurement in non-premixed flames with DME additions.