Pollutant Formation in Monodisperse Fuel Spray Combustion

The combustion of liquid sprays represents an extremely important class of combustion processes. In the transition region, encompassing droplet sizes in the range of 25-80 micron diameter, the mixing and evaporation processes are both incomplete at the flame front and burning occurs in a combined diffusive and premixed fashion. Under these conditions, the relative importance of heterogeneous and homogeneous effects in dominating the combustion process is switched and gives rise to a number of interesting phenomena. NO (sub x) formation in monodisperse spray combustion was investigated with the following specific objectives: (1) to quantitatively determine the effect of droplet size, number density, etc. on NO sub x formation in monodisperse fuel spray combustion; and (2) to isolate the important physical and chemical phenomena in NO sub x formation in these combustion systems.