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Clean Air: International Journal on Energy for a Clean Environment

ISSN for PRINT: 1561-4417

Institutional price:	$451.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2004, Volume5

165 pages

DOI: 10.1615/InterJEnerCleanEnv.v5.i3

Issue price - $108.00

A NEW ROUTE OF HCN FORMATION VIA N₂O IN GASEOUS HYDROCARBON FLAMES

Jerzy Tomeczek
Katedra Energetyki Procesowej Wydziat Inzynierii Materialowej, Metalurgli i Tra, ul. Krasinskiego 8; and Department of Process Energy, Silesian Technical University, 40-019 Katowice, Poland

Boguslaw Gradon
Department of Process Energy, Silesian Technical University 40-019 Katowice, Poland

ABSTRACT

The formation of HCN in flames via N₂O reactions with CH_i radicals proposed by Gradon (2001) and elaborated later (Tomeczek and Gradon, 2003) into a form of elementary step reactions is tested for rich and lean gaseous premixed CH₄/air flames. The new route to HCN is thermodynamically more probable than the Fenimore direct reactions of N₂ with CH_i radicals. To meet the observed NO formation rates, a set of six reactions is proposed:

N₂O + CH₃ ⇔ CH₂NH + NO,

N₂O + CH₃ ⇔ CH₃O + N₂,

CH₂NH + H ⇔ H₂CN + H₂,

CH₂NH + O ⇔ H₂CN + OH,

H₂CN + H ⇔ HCN + H₂,

H₂CN + O ⇔ HCN + OH.

It has been shown that in rich CH₄/air flames, the new mechanism of HCN formation via N₂O contributes to about 25% of NO, in comparison with the 17% contribution of the Fenimore mechanism.