This study presents the developmental work of two reduced kinetic models, namely,
methyl-cyclo-hexane (MCH) and pentanol. MCH is the representative of the
cyclo-alkane component for diesel. Pentanol is used as a fuel additive to aid in
emission reduction. The final 86-species MCH model and the final 55-species
pentanol model are about 90% smaller than their respective detailed
counterparts. Upon extensive validation exercises in zero-dimensional (0-D)
kinetic simulations, the MCH model was integrated with the formerly derived
models for linear (n-hexadecane) and branched
(2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethylnonane) alkanes to form a 144-species kinetic model,
namely, D_144. The “reduced-prior-to-combination” approach was adopted in
merging the fuel constituents. The D_144 model can be used as a surrogate model
for diesel in numerical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling.
Successively, a 162-species model for diesel and alcohol mixtures, namely,
DA_162, was formulated by integrating the alcohol chemistries of the pentanol
model with the D_144 model. It was then applied in spray combustion simulations
to evaluate the effects of the alcohol additive on the combustion and emission
performances of diesel fuel under diesel-engine-like conditions. The results
obtained showed that blending of alcohol additives with diesel has successfully
reduced soot formation. The DA_162 model can potentially be used as a surrogate
model in further investigation studies involving alcohol-diesel-fuelled
engines.
