Optimal Chemical Models for Natural Gas Combustion

One goal of the basic combustion research program at the Gas Research Institute (GRI) is to develop reliable chemistry, transport, and fluid dynamics models that can be used in the design of gas burners that meet increasingly stringent demands for maintaining environmental quality while improving combustion efficiency. Quantitative knowledge of the detailed chemistry of natural gas flames and ignition -- including the processes responsible for forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and other pollutants -- is essential for these models.

SRI serves as prime contractor for a team effort called GRI-Mech, in collaboration with combustion scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Previous GRI-funded research developed procedures to simultaneously optimize the values of rate parameters in a kinetic mechanism against the best experimental results. The GRI-Mech consortium is using these procedures to develop globally optimized chemical models for natural gas combustion, based on comparisons of model results from evaluated mechanisms of elementary rate coefficients with experimental studies of flames and ignition. This effort is supplemented by laser diagnostic measurements on ignition and species concentration profiles in flames and shock tubes.

The first optimized version of the GRI mechanism, called GRI-Mech 1.1 was released on the Internet in March 1994, succeeded by version 1.2 in November. The first release of GRI-Mech 2.1, which includes optimized kinetics for NOx formation and reburn, is now available.

Principal Investigator at SRI

Gregory P. Smith <smith@mplvax.sri.com>

Related Web Pages

Graphical Web page for GRI-Mech 1.2 and 2.1
Gas Research Institute Home Page
SRI's Molecular Physics Laboratory
SRI International Home Page

Send WWW-rellated comments and suggestions to huestis@mplvax.sri.com