Four-step global kinetics mechanism for diluted combustion fueled with kerosene

•A four-step global kinetics mechanism was developed for diluted kerosene combustion.•The mechanism was validated using PSRs under MILD combustion and HiTAC conditions.•The simulations with the mechanism well predicted temperatures in HiTAC furnaces. The aim of the present study was to develop a global kinetics mechanism capable of predicting characteristics of the combustion of kerosene diluted with combustion gases. A four-step model of the Aachen mechanism was developed via modification of a mechanism for lower molecular weight hydrocarbons. A simplified fuel was used to simulate kerosene, the thermodynamic properties of which were estimated based on the surrogate fuel in the Aachen mechanism. Combustion of this model fuel in a perfectly stirred reactor (PSR) operating under high-temperature air combustion (HiTAC) conditions was simulated using inflow mixtures preheated and diluted with nitrogen. In this new mechanism, the activation energy for the fuel consumption reaction and the pre-exponential factor for the hydrogen oxidation reaction were adjusted. The resulting model accurately predicted variations in temperature and major species over time. The four-step mechanism was also validated under conventional flame and moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion conditions. The PSR simulations with the four-step mechanism accurately predicted variations in temperature and major species under MILD combustion conditions. In addition, this four-step mechanism was confirmed to be superior to other global mechanisms with regard to predicting the mole fractions of various species. Experimental trials were carried out with diluted kerosene flames formed above parallel jet burners composed of a fuel spray nozzle and an oxidizer nozzle, and it was found that NOx emission decreased with increasing distance between nozzles even for spray combustion. These diluted flames were numerically simulated using the eddy dissipation concept model combined with the four-step mechanism. The temperature distributions obtained from the simulations showed good agreement with the experimental data in the downstream region.