Combustion chemistry and fuel-nitrogen conversion in a laminar premixed flame of morpholine as a model biofuel

The present study has been motivated by the need to understand and predict fuel-nitrogen conversion in the combustion of biomass-derived fuels. Within that broader context, an earlier related publication (Lucassen et al., Proc. Combust. Inst. 32 (2009) 1269–1276) has investigated morpholine (C4H9NO, 1-oxa-4-aza-cyclohexane) as a model oxygen- and nitrogen-containing biofuel, and species identification was presented for a slightly fuel-rich Φ = 1.3 (C/O = 0.41) laminar premixed morpholine-oxygen-argon flame at 40 mbar. To attempt a more detailed insight into the flame structure and combustion mechanism, the present contribution has now combined photoionization (PI) and electron ionization (EI) molecular-beam mass spectrometry (MBMS) to determine absolute mole-fraction profiles of numerous major and intermediate species with up to 6 heavy atoms. In general, PI-MBMS and EI-MBMS results were found in good agreement. The results reveal formation of a number of intermediates that may contribute to harmful emissions, including aldehydes and several nitrogen-containing compounds in percent-level concentrations. Both NH3 and HCN pathways are seen to contribute to NO formation.To identify reaction pathways for this detailed experimental analysis, development of a flame model was started, considering a combustion mechanism for cyclohexane and analogous fuel-breakdown reactions for morpholine by addition of necessary thermodynamic, transport and kinetic parameters. The present model captures relevant features of the morpholine flame quite well, including HCN, N2, and NO, and it can serve as a nucleus for further development of detailed combustion models for fuel-nitrogen conversion from model biofuel compounds.