To better understand the combustion characteristics of
ethyl esters that could become second-generation biofuels, new experimental
data were obtained for the combustion of a series of small ethyl esters.
Unstretched laminar burning velocities of C4–C7 ethyl ester–air premixed laminar flames were measured
in a spherical combustion chamber over a range of pressures (1–10
bar), initial temperatures (323–473 K), and equivalence ratios
(0.7–1.5). These experiments were simulated as well as low-pressure
flame structures, jet-stirred reactor species profiles, and ignition
delays in shock tubes and rapid compression machines. A new detailed
chemical kinetic reaction mechanism (1845 reactions versus 232 species)
was developed and used in this work. The present model shows good
agreement with the present experimental data and those taken from
the literature. To interpret the results, sensitivity analyses were
performed.