It is found that in the low temperature gas phase oxidation of hydro-carbons, within specific regions of temperature and pressure, a periodic process may be set up which shows itself as a sequence of low intensity ignitions (cool flames). In an attempt to decide between alternative explanations of this oscillatory behaviour, the cool flame reaction of ether/air mixtures has been studied in a continuous stirred tank reactor employing variable heat transfer. Under such conditions it has been found possible to establish a continuous sequence of cool flames of constant amplitude and frequency. The effects of various experimental parameters have been investigated and it has been shown that heat transfer factors greatly affect the behaviour of the periodic process. A thermo-kinetic model has been postulated, and a theoretical analysis of the stability of the resulting equations has been carried out. Substitution of estimated parameter values in the stability equations has shown that a satisfactory agreement exists between theoretically predicted behaviour and experimental results. Accordingly the cool flame process, as observed under conditions of continuous flow, is postulated as being thereto-kinetic in nature involving the decomposition of a semi-stable active intermediate in a periodic manner.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:623007 |
| Date | January 1968 |
| Creators | Dutton, John |
| Publisher | Imperial College London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/15771 |
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