Ethanol pyrolysis experiments in a variable pressure flow reactor

Experimental profiles of stable species concentrations are reported for pyrolysis of ethanol in a variable-pressure flow reactor at initial temperatures near 950 K and at constant pressures ranging from 3 to 12 atm. We present a new technique for comparison of model predictions with experimental observations in order to overcome the problem that time shifting of zero-dimensional modeling results cannot accommodate the memory effects resulting from phenomena that occur in the mixing-diffuser region in the experiments. Using this new technique, comparison of the experiments with the recent ethanol kinetic model of Marinov shows that the model underestimates the fuel consumption rate and the yields of H2O and C2H4, the main products of ethanol decomposition, as well as CH3HCO and CH4, species related to abstraction channels. Both decomposition and abstraction reactions require significant modifications to improve detailed modeling of ethanol pyrolysis at the conditions of the reported experiments. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.