Abstract
In this paper, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot formation in rich partially premixed flames and nonpremixed flames were studied using a blend of n-heptane and toluene. The flames were diluted with Ar, N2, and CO2 to control the flame temperature. Laser-induced fluorescence, laser-induced incandescence, and two-color pyrometry were used to study the effects of flame temperature on the PAHs and soot evolution. Results show that temperature distributions are similar for different gas dilutions at low flow rates. However, the high-temperature area increases dramatically in size at high flow rates and it depends on diluents in the order Ar > N2 > CO2 with regard to flame temperature. With an increase in the flow rate of Ar, the higher growth rate of flame temperature and bigger region of high-temperature region can lead to a higher growth rate from small to large PAHs and higher soot volume fraction. However, for CO2 dilution, the increased flow rate results in the increase of formation of large PAHs, but soot formation is reduced due to the fact that lower flame temperature suppresses the soot formation. Therefore, it can be concluded that the evolution of PAHs and soot strongly depends on flame temperature.