Detailed particle nucleation modeling in a sooting ethylene flame using a Conditional Quadrature Method of Moments (CQMOM)

A detailed kinetic mechanism for soot formation and evolution was applied in a method of moments framework using the concept of 'Conditional Quadrature Method of Moments' (CQMOM). Particle nucleation and growth pathways are described in detail tracking moments of the number density function for large PAH soot clusters and agglomerates in both stable and radical forms. Individual entities of these groups were examined in terms of their size and H/C ratio wherein the latter provides information on the chemical structure and the reactivity of the particles. Next the CQMOM implementation of the soot model is employed to predict particle formation in a lightly sooting burner-stabilized premixed ethylene flame with φ = 2.1 equivalence ratio. The suitability of the soot model to predict particle matter captured the onset of soot formation by nucleation and the subsequent growth.