A new era for combustion research

Abstract

Current topics in combustion chemistry include aspects of a changing fuel spectrum with a focus on reducing emissions and increasing efficiency. This article is intended to provide an overview of selected recent work in combustion chemistry, especially addressing reaction pathways from fuel decomposition to emissions. The role of the molecular fuel structure will be emphasized for the formation of certain regulated and unregulated species from individual fuels and their mixtures, exemplarily including fuel compounds such as alkanes, alkenes, ethers, alcohols, ketones, esters, and furan derivatives. Depending on the combustion conditions, different temperature regimes are important and can lead to different reaction classes. Laboratory reactors and flames are prime sources and targets from which such detailed chemical information can be obtained and verified with a number of advanced diagnostic techniques, often supported by theoretical work and simulation with combustion models developed to transfer relevant details of chemical mechanisms into practical applications. Regarding the need for cleaner combustion processes, some related background and perspectives will be provided regarding the context for future chemistry research in combustion energy science.