Effects of blending 2,5-dimethylfuran on the laminar burning velocity and ignition delay time of isooctane/air mixture

The prospects of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) as a bio-derived fuel that can be blended with gasoline are believed to be impressive. However, the effects of blending DMF on the key combustion parameters like the laminar burning velocity and ignition delay time of gasoline/air mixture need to be studied extensively for the successful implementation of the fuel mixture in spark ignition engines. Therefore, a skeletal chemical kinetic mechanism, comprising of 999 reactions among 218 species, has been developed in the present work for this purpose. The proposed chemical kinetic model has been validated against a wide range of experimental data for the laminar burning velocity and ignition delay time of isooctane (representing gasoline), DMF and their blends. It has been found from the present study that the thermal diffusivity of the unburnt gas mixture changes by a very small amount from the corresponding value for the pure isooctane/air mixture when DMF is added. Unlike isooctane, the DMF molecule does not consume H radicals during its primary breakup. Therefore, the maximum laminar burning velocity increases marginally when 50% DMF is blended with isooctane due to the increased presence of H radicals in the flame. The negative temperature coefficient behaviour in the ignition delay time of the isooctane fuel vanishes when 30% DMF (v/v) is blended to it.