The collaborative research initiative culminated in amassing a substantial combustion database of experimental results for dry and moist mixtures of syngas and hydrogen (SGH), including autoignition times using a rapid compression machine as well as laminar flame speeds using a counterflow twin-flame configuration. These experimental data provided the basis for assessment of the kinetics of SGH combustion at elevated pressures using global uncertainty analysis methods. A review of the fundamental combustion characteristics of H 2 /CO mixtures, with emphasis on ignition and flame propagation at high pressures was also conducted to understand the state of the art in SGH combustion. Investigation of the reaction kinetics of CO+HO 2 • → CO 2 + •OH and HO 2 +OH → H 2 O+O 2 by ab initio calculations and master equation modeling was further carried out in order to look into the discrepancies between the experimental data and the results predicted by the mechanisms. 4 Table of
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYA collaborative research effort that involves researchers from Case Western Reserve University, University of Southern California, and University of Michigan aims to provide experimental database of high fidelity and develop comprehensive and computationally efficient reaction mechanism for facilitating the design of SGH fuel combustors. Using CO, H 2 , H 2 O mixtures simulating SGH fuels, fundamental combustion datasets to be obtained experimentally include flame speeds and ignition delay times, with parametric variations of fuel composition, preheat temperature, and pressure. This critical database is needed for validation of chemical kinetics of syngas combustion and is used in conjunction with computation methods, such as global uncertainty analysis, to assess the performance of the literature reaction mechanisms. The present assessment revealed discrepancies in the existing value of a key reaction, CO+HO 2 • → CO 2 + •OH. Reaction kinetics of this reaction was investigated theoretically and a new rate expression was suggested which corrected the noted disagreement in predictions of the existing mechanisms for syngas combustion.The present study is broken down into the following major projects: i. Extensive experimental data for autoignition of dry syngas mixtures at elevated pressures in a rapid compression machine were obtained. Experiments were done for pressures 15-50 bar and temperatures from 950 to 1100 K. Ignition delays were measured for stoichiometric compositions of CO + H 2 containing between 0 and 80% CO in the total fuel mixture. Contrary to the simulated results, the experimental data showed an unequivocal monotonic increase in ignition delay as the proportion of CO in the mixture was raised. ii. Assessment of the kinetics of syngas combustion at elevated pressures using global uncertainty analysis methods was conducted to trace the reason behind the discrepancy of the experimental data and computed results. iii. Extensive experimental data of flame propagation for moist syngas mixtures at elevated unb...