A Rapid Compression Machine Study of 2-Phenylethanol Autoignition at Low-To-Intermediate Temperatures

Abstract

To meet the increasing anti-knocking quality demand of boosted spark-ignition engines, fuel additives are considered an effective approach to tailor fuel properties for satisfying the performance requirements. Thus, screening/developing bio-derived fuel additives that are best-suited for advanced spark-ignition engines has become a significant task. 2-Phenylethanol (2-PE) is an attractive candidate that features high research octane number, high octane sensitivity, low vapor pressure, and high energy density. Recognizing that the low temperature autoignition chemistry of 2-PE is not well understood and the need for fundamental experimental data at engine-relevant conditions, rapid compression machine (RCM) experiments are therefore conducted herein to measure ignition delay times (IDTs) of 2-PE in air over a wide range of conditions to fill this fundamental void. These newly acquired IDT data at low-to-intermediated temperatures, equivalence ratios of 0.35–1.5, and compressed pressures of 10–40 bar are then used to validate the 2-PE model developed by Shankar et al. (2017). It is found that this literature model greatly overpredicts the current RCM data. The comparison of experimental and simulated results also provides insights into 2-PE autoignition behaviors at varying conditions. Further chemical kinetic analyses demonstrate that the absence of the O2-addition pathway of β-R. radical in the 2-PE model of Shankar et al. (2017) could account for the model discrepancies observed at low-to-intermediated temperatures.

Combining metabolite doping and metabolic engineering to improve 2-phenylethanol production by engineered cyanobacteria

“…2-phenylethanol (2-PE) is one of the most valuable aromatic compounds, with a global market value estimated to reach 351 Million USD by 2027 ( Kang et al, 2014 ; Kim, Lee and Oh, 2014 ; Romagnoli et al, 2015 ; Averesch and Krömer, 2018 ). 2-PE is an aromatic alcohol with pleasant rose-like scent, which makes it exploitable mostly in the food, fragrance, and flavor industries, but still employable as antifungal or fuel additive ( Etschmann et al, 2002 ; Majdabadi et al, 2018 ; Nielson, Machas and Mckenna, 2018 ; Fang and Sung, 2021 ). Plant-extracted 2-PE costs 1,000 US$/kg and suffers from economics and scalability for a sustainable industrial production ( Liu et al, 2018 ; Qian et al, 2019 ).…”

Possible use as biofuels of monoaromatic oxygenates produced by lignin catalytic conversion: A review

“…Yuan et al [122] adapted their model for the oxidation of small arenes (toluene, styrene, and ethylbenzene) to propose a model for anisole validated against their quantification in a tubular reactor for pyrolysis, as well as against literature data of anisole combustion, including IDTs in a shock tube [89], and speciation profiles in a tubular reactor [118], in two JSRs [91][119] and in laminar flame [125]. Büttgen et al [57] extended the toluene mechanism developed in Galway [150] to anisole with validation against their shock tube and RCM IDTs, as well as against JSR speciation data by [119] and [90]. Updating the anisole model developed by Wagnon et al [91], which was validated against their laminar flame velocity measurements and against JSR speciation data from their own and from [119], Mergulhão et al [96] proposed an iso-octane/anisole model to simulate the influence of anisole addition on the IDTs of the alkane in RCM.…”