Experimental Determination of Self-Ignition Delay of Mixtures of Methane with Light Alkanes

Abstract

This paper describes the study of self-ignition delays of stoichiometric binary, triple, and multicomponent mixtures of methane with the addition of up to 10% of normal C₂-C₆ alkanes in air at temperatures of 523–1000 K and a pressure of 1 atm. It is determined that the additives of all C₂-C₆ alkanes can reduce the self-ignition delay of methane already at a level of 1%. With the addition of 10%, the ignition delay of this mixture virtually becomes equal to that of the added alkane itself. In binary mixtures with methane, ethane additives have an accelerating effect that is no lower than that of propane and butane additives. In triple and more complex mixtures, the self-ignition delay is determined by the total sum of added alkanes and is virtually independent within the framework of a determination error on their particular ratio.