Kinetics of Ethylene Glycol: The first validated reaction scheme and first measurements of ignition delay times and speciation data

The reaction kinetics of Ethylene Glycol (EG) is studied, due to its similarity in chemical composition and physical properties, as a model fuel for pyrolysis oil. Recently, the combination of fast pyrolysis of residual biomass and subsequent gasification of the pyrolysis oil has gained high interest. In the gasification process, oxygen is often used as a gasifying agent (e.g. auto-thermal gasification) which led us to study EG under oxidation condition. This study has experimental and modeling objectives: We obtain novel experimental data that we use for validation of our EG oxidation model that enable predictive modeling and optimization of gasifiers through multi-dimensional CFD simulations. Both, detailed and reduced skeletal models are obtained. The validation data needed for the model is studied in two different types of experiments namely, (1) ignition delay times obtained behind reflected shock waves in the temperature range of 800–1500K at 16bar and, (2) quantitative species profiles measured in a high temperature flow reactor setup for fuel equivalence ratios Φ=1.0 and 2.0 in the temperature range of 700–1200K. Both experiments are performed in the EG-system for the first time providing the relevant basis for the understanding on how EG decomposes and for the optimization of the reaction mechanism. The influence of different product channels on the reactivity of the EG system is investigated and leads us to pose the question, if enol can be formed in this combustion (oxidative) environment.