Effects of oxygen index on soot production and temperature in an ethylene inverse diffusion flame

• Increasing oxygen index leads to more soot formation and higher soot temperatures.
• Increasing oxygen index leads to a taller visible flame but a shorter reaction zone.
• Oxygen index enhances soot formation but not soot oxidation.
• The radiation loss and integrated soot volume fraction increase in a similar way.

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of the Oxygen Index (OI) in an ethylene laminar inverse diffusion flame (IDF). The OI was varied from 21% to 37% and its influence was measured in terms of the flame height, soot volume fraction, soot temperature and radiant fraction. The stoichiometric flame height was measured by the spontaneous emission of CH∗ radicals and was found to decrease when the OI increases. In contrast, the luminous flame height increases with OI because soot can still form and grow beyond the reaction zone. Radial profiles of soot volume fraction and soot temperature were obtained by means of a Modulated Absorption/Emission (MAE) technique. The line-of-sight intensities, integrated along the optical path and captured by ECCD camera at two wavelengths were inverted using deconvolution and regularization techniques in order to obtain radial profiles of soot volume fraction and temperature. The increase in OI enhances soot volume fraction due to higher temperatures and soot formation rates. Both the local and integrated soot quantities increase with OI. The radiant fraction of IDF increases with the OI in a similar way to the integrated soot volume fraction.