Polyethylene Pyrolysis Products: Their Detonability in Air and Applicability to Solid-Fuel Detonation Ramjets

Sergey M. Frolov, Igor O. Shamshin, Maxim V. Kazachenko, Viktor S. Aksenov, Igor V. Bilera, Vladislav S. Ivanov and Valerii I. Zvegintsev
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Sergey M. Frolov: Department of Combustion and Explosion, Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Igor O. Shamshin: Department of Combustion and Explosion, Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Maxim V. Kazachenko: Department of Combustion and Explosion, Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Viktor S. Aksenov: Department of Combustion and Explosion, Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Igor V. Bilera: Department of Oil Refining and Petrochemicals, Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Vladislav S. Ivanov: Department of Combustion and Explosion, Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Valerii I. Zvegintsev: Laboratory of Hypersonic Technologies, Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: The detonability of polyethylene pyrolysis products (pyrogas) in mixtures with air is determined for the first time in a standard pulsed detonation tube based on the measured values of deflagration-to-detonation transition run-up time. The pyrogas is continuously produced in a gas generator at decomposition temperatures ranging from 650 to 850 °C. Chromatographic analysis shows that at a high decomposition temperature (850 °C) pyrogas consists mainly of hydrogen, methane, ethylene, and ethane, and has a molecular mass of about 10 g/mol, whereas at a low decomposition temperature (650 °C), it mainly consists of ethylene, ethane, methane, hydrogen, propane, and higher hydrocarbons, and has a molecular mass of 24–27 g/mol. In a pulsed detonation mode, the air mixtures of pyrogas with the fuel-to-air equivalence ratio ranging from 0.6 to 1.6 at normal pressure are shown to exhibit the detonability close to that of the homogeneous air mixtures of ethylene and propylene. On the one hand, this indicates a high explosion hazard of pyrogas, which can be formed, e.g., in industrial and household fires. On the other hand, pyrogas can be considered as a promising fuel for advanced propulsion powerplants utilizing the thermodynamic Zel’dovich cycle with detonative combustion, e.g., solid-fuel detonation ramjets. In view of it, the novel conceptual design of the dual-duct detonation ramjet demonstrator intended for operation on pyrogas at the cruising flight speed of Mach 2 at sea level has been developed. The ramjet demonstrator has been manufactured and preliminarily tested in a pulsed wind tunnel at Mach 1.5 and 2 conditions. In the test fires, a short-term onset of continuous detonation of ethylene was registered at both Mach numbers.

Keywords: detonability; standard pulsed detonation tube; polyethylene; pyrolysis; pyrogas; fuel-air mixture; deflagration-to-detonation transition; Zel’dovich cycle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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