A skeletal chemical kinetic mechanism for methanol combustion is developed based on a comprehensive detailed mechanism (AramcoMech 3.0), which consists of 581 species and 3,037 reactions. The systematic skeletal mechanism reduction methods are applied to the detailed mechanism to obtain a minimal skeletal mechanism. Systematic mechanism analysis including global reaction path and sensitivity analysis are performed to identify key reactions relevant to methanol oxidation. Species relevant to the combustion chemistry of methanol are analyzed through global reaction path and compared with other reduced mechanisms, which highlights the importance of maintaining realistic chemistry in skeletal mechanism. Brute-force sensitivity analysis and chemical explosive mode analysis are employed to analyze the ignition properties of methanol. The performance of the skeletal mechanism is validated against a wide range of pressures, temperatures, and equivalence ratios for ignition, species concentrations, and laminar flame speeds. This work not only presents a minimal skeletal mechanism for methanol combustion based on systematic mechanism reduction methods from very large detailed mechanisms but also provides insight into the chemical kinetics of methanol combustion.
K E Y W O R D Scombustion kinetics, ignition, methanol, skeletal mechanism