• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

Edge flames have been interested as a basic structure that is concerned to flame stabilization and re-ignition of non-premixed flames. The edge flame consists of a lean premixed flame, a rich premixed flame, and a diffusion flame. In order to investigate fundamental structures of the edge flames at the conditions near the flammability limits, edge flames were stabilized within a heated narrow channel. Highly diluted partially premixed methane was used, and the flow rates of air and the partially premixed mixture were controlled. Various flame behaviors, including a transition between ordinary edge flames and premixed flames, were observed. Flame stabilization characteristics were examined as well. All flame stabilization conditions in this study showed a similar trend: characteristic time scales were inversely proportional to the equivalence ratio defined at the burner inlet. Finally, an interesting flame structure having a weak diffusion branch enveloped by a closed premixed branch was found near the flammability limits even in a fuel-air mixing layer. This structure was named as a "flame-drop" and the importance of this structure was first suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2011

Six different size of torch-ignition device were applied in a constant volume combustion chamber for evaluating the effects of torch-ignition on combustion. The torch-ignition device was designed for six different volumes and same orifice size. The combustion pressures were measured to calculate the mass burn fraction and combustion enhancement rate. In addition, the flame propagations were visualized by shadowgraph method for the qualitative comparison. The result showed that the combustion pressure and mass burn fraction were increased when using the torch ignition device. And the combustion duration were decreased. The combustion enhancement rates of torch-ignition cases were improved in comparison with conventional spark ignition. Finally, the visualization results showed that the torch-ignition induced faster burn than conventional spark ignition due to the earlier transition to turbulent flame and larger flame surface, during the initial stage. Finally, the initial flame propagation was affected by torch-ignition volume.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.04b
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• pp.949-955
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• 2000

Numerical study with detailed chemistry has been conducted to investigate the NOx formation and structure in $CH_4/Air-CO_2$ counterflow diffusion flames. The importance of radiation effect is identified and the role of $CO_2$ addition is addressed to thermal and chemical reaction effects, which can be precisely specified through the introduction of an imaginary species. Also NO separation technique is utilized to distinguish the contribution of thermal and prompt NO formation mechanisms. The results are as follows : The radiation effect is dominant at low strain rates and it is intensified by $CO_2$ addition. Thermal effect mainly contributes to the changes in flame structure and the amount of NO formation but the chemical reaction effect also cannot be neglected. It is noted that flame structure is changed considerably due to the addition of $CO_2$ in such a manner that the path of methane oxidation prefers to take $CH_4 {\rightarrow}CH_3{\rightarrow}C_2H_6{\rightarrow}C_2H_5$ instead of $CH_4 {\rightarrow}CH_3{\rightarrow}CH_2{\rightarrow}CH$. At low strain rate(a=10) the reduction of thermal NO is dominant with respect to reduction rate, but that of prompt NO is dominant with respect to total amount.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.9 s.252
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• pp.905-912
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• 2006

Experiments in low strain rate methane-air counterflow diffusion flames diluted with $CO_2$ have been conducted to investigate the flame extinction behavior and edge flame oscillation in which flame length is less than the burner diameter and thus lateral conductive heat loss in addition to radiative loss could be remarkable at low global strain rates. The critical mole fraction at flame extinction is examined in terms of velocity ratio and global strain rate. It is seen that flame length is closely relevant to lateral heat loss, and this sheets flame extinction and edge flame oscillation considerably. Lateral heat loss causes flame oscillation even at fuel Lewis number less than unity. Edge flame oscillations are categorized into three: a growing-, a harmonic- and a decaying-oscillation mode. Onset conditions of the edge flame oscillation and the relevant modes are examined with global strain rate and $CO_2$ mole fraction in fuel stream. A flame stability map based on the flame oscillation modes is also provided at low strain rate flames.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.166-177
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• 1998

Combustion characteristics of natural gas premixed flames is studied experimently and numerically by adopting a counterflow as a flamelet model in turbulent flames. Flame speeds are measured by employing LDV, and the results show that flame speed increases linearly with strain rate, which agrees well with numerical results. Parametric dependences of extinction strain rates are studied numerically with detailed kinetic mechanism to show that the addition of ethand to a methane premixed flame makes the flame more resistant to strain rate. The effect of pressure on the extinction strain rate is that the extinction strain rate increases up to 10 atm and them decreases, which is explained by competition of chain branching H+O2=OH+O and recombination reaction H+O2+M=HO2+M. Detailed mechanism having seventy-four step is systematically reduced to a nine-step and a five-step thermal NOx chemistry is reduced to two-step. Comparison between the results of the detailed and the reduced mechanisms demonstrates that the reduced mechanism successfully describes the essential features of natural gas premixed flames including extinction strain rate and NOx production.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1255-1263
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• 2012

Batch cultivations were performed to evaluate the influences of the initial pH condition on mesophilic and thermophilic acidogenic fermentation with food waste recycling wastewater. In both conditions of mesophilic and thermophilic fermentation, TVFAs production rates were maximized at the initial pH 7 condition as 0.15 and 0.23 g TVFAs/L hr, respectively. And pH was also maintained stably between 6 and 7 during 72hr acidogenic cultivation at both conditions. However, predominant VFA components were different according to reaction temperature conditions. In mesophilic condition, propionic acid which has low conversion efficiency to methane was accumulated up to 1,348 mg/L while acetic and butyric acid were predominant in thermophilic condition. Therefore, thermophilic acidogenic fermentation was superior for the effective VFAs production than mesophilic condition. From the DGGE analysis, the band patterns were different according to the initial pH conditions but the correlations of the each band were increased in similar pH conditions. These results mean that microbial communities were certainly affected by the initial pH condition. Consequently, the adjustment of the initial pH to neutral region and thermophilic operation are needed to enhance acidogenic fermentation of food waste recycling wastewater.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2009

The present study has been performed to investigate the thermal characteristics of under-ventilated compartment fire which is a typical fire condition in structures. A series of fire experiments was conducted to characterize the thermally driven flow in a 2/5 scale ISO 9705 fire compartment. Three different fuels were used in this test series, methane gas, heptane pool, and polystyrene pellets fire. In order to measure accurate temperature, double shield aspirated thermocouples reducing the effect of radiative energy exchange on temperature measurement were used in addition to bare bead thermocouples. The upper layer temperature for well ventilated fire was increased with increasing heat release rate, but it was slightly decreased for under-ventilated fire. The measured temperatures in the upper layer at the front sampling location were higher than at the rear. Thermal characteristics through the doorway were also analysed for a wide range of heat release rates. This study provides a comprehensive and quantitative assessment of fire behavior for under-ventilation condition of fire.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.355-363
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• 2010

High purity hydrogen, 97-99 vol.%, with CO at just ppm levels was obtained in a fixed bed of iron oxide employing the steam-iron cycle operation with reduction at 823K and oxidation in a steam-$N_2$ mixture at 773K TGA experiments indicated that temperature of the reduction step as well as its duration are important for preventing carbon build-up in iron and the intrusion of $CO_2$ into the hydrogen product. At a reduction temperature of 823K, oxide reduction by $H_2$ was considerably faster than reduction by CO. If the length of the reduction step exceeds optimal value, low levels of methane gas appeared in the off-gas. Furthermore, with longer durations of the reduction step and CO levels in the reducing gas greater than 10 vol.%, carbidization of the iron and/or carbon deposition in the bed exhibited the increasing pressure drop over the bed, eventually rendering the reactor inoperable. Reduction using a reducing gas containing 10 vol.% CO and a optimal reduction duration gave constant $H_2$ flow rates and off-gas composition over 10 redox reaction cycles.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Energy Engineering kosee Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.195-200
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• 2004

Carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and methane (CH$_4$) are two major greenhouse Bases. $CO_2$is a stack gas of many industrial processes and the main product of the hydrocarbon combustion. There is recent research interest on the synthesis gas (syngas) formation from $CO_2$ and CH$_4$, via the following reaction: CH$_4$+$CO_2$longrightarrow 2H$_2$+$CO_2$, in order to reduce the greenhouse effects and to synthesize various chemicals, Preliminary experiments were conducted on the conversion of $CO_2$ and CH$_4$ to syngas by making use of a microwave plasma torch at atmospheric pressure. Conversion rates of $CO_2$and CH$_4$ to hydrogen (H$_2$), carbon monoxide (CO) and higher hydrocarbons were investigated using Gas Chromatography (GC) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The experimental data indicate that the main products were H$_2$, CO and small amount of higher hydrocarbons, such as ethylene (C$_2$H$_4$).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.33-40
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• 2005

The propagation rates of advancing and retreating non-premixed edge flames in a slot-jet counterflow were measured as a function of strain rate for varying jet spacing, mixture strength, stoichiometric mixture fractions $(Z_{st})$ and Lewis numbers (Le). Methane and propane fuels were tested and nitrogen and carbon dioxide were used as inerts. As results, we could identify igniting fronts, retreating fronts, two total extinction limits, and short-length edge flames. A burner separation affected to a low extinction limit only. Regimes for advancing and retreating edges together with total extinction were mapped in terms of normalized flame thickness and heat loss factor for $CH_4/O_2/N_2$ mixtures. Edge flames for $Z_{st}$ > 0.5 behaved like a stronger mixture while for $Z_{st}$ < 0.5 showed deteriorated feature, because of relative locations of a non-premixed flame and intermediate species such as CO and $H_2$. Furthermore, due to the relative importance of heat loss, propagating speeds of edge flames were significantly enhanced in $CH_4/O_2/CO_2$ mixtures (Le < 1) demonstrating increasing stability limits. However $C_3H_8/O_2/N_2$ mixtures (Le > 1) showed opposite result.