Experimental study of pollutants formation in laminar premixed flames of tetrahydrofuran family fuels

To better understand the combustion chemistry of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) which has been considered as promising bio-fuel, the structure of their stoichiometric (φ=1.0) low-pressure laminar premixed flame has been investigated. The flames have been stabilized on a burner at a pressure of 50 Torr (6.7 kPa) using argon as dilutant (78 %), with a gas velocity at the burner of 59 cm s at 293 K. The results consist of mole fraction profiles of about 40 species for the THF flame and 60 species for the MTHF flame identified and quantified as a function of the height above the burner by probe sampling followed by online gas chromatography analyses. An analysis and comparison of the combustion of these fuels was performed regarding the mole fraction of the products.