Investigation of the effect of ethanol additives on the structure of low-pressure ethylene flames by photoionization mass spectrometry

Molecular beam mass spectrometry with photoionizationby synchrotron radiation was used to study the structure of flat premixed flames of C 2 H 4 /O 2 /Ar and C 2 H 4 /C 2 H 5 OH/O 2 /Ar at a pressure of 30 torr (4 kPa) with equivalence ratios ϕ = 1 and 2. It was shown that the replacement of part of ethylene with ethanol in the starting mixture lowered the concentration of a number of intermediate flame species, including soot precursors C 3 H 3 and C 6 H 6 . These data are important for the development, analysis, and further improvement of detailed kinetic mechanisms for combustion of mixtures of hydrocarbon and oxygenated fuels.