Experimental and kinetic studies of premixed laminar flame of acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE)/air

- Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) was considered as a potential alternative fuel.
- Kinetics mainly causes the different laminar burning velocities of four fuels.
- The laminar flame features of ABE (3:6:1 in volume) are close to those of n-butanol.
- Laminar flame features of ABE were obtained in a constant-volume combustion vessel.

In the present study, the experimental study on the laminar burning velocities and Markstein lengths of ABE mixtures and its components was performed in a constant-volume combustion vessel. In addition, a detailed mechanism was employed to simulate the one-dimensional (1-D) premixed laminar flames of ABE mixtures and its components. Results show that the laminar burning velocities of ABE mixtures are slower than those of ethanol, faster than those of acetone, and close to those of n-butanol. Moreover, the Markstein lengths of ABE mixtures are close to those of n-butanol, indicating that the instability of laminar flames of ABE mixtures is also similar to that of n-butanol. The results of kinetic analysis show that the consumption channels of acetone, ethanol and n-butanol in single component fuel/air flame and ABE/air flame are very close, respectively. In addition, ABE mixtures and n-butanol share a great similarity for the results of sensitivity analysis.