An Experimental and Kinetic Modeling Study of Pyrolysis and Combustion of Acetone–Butanol–Ethanol (ABE) Mixtures

The excellent fuel characteristics of bio-butanol are responsible for the renewed interest in the acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation process and the combustion and pyrolysis behavior of mixtures of acetone, butanol, and ethanol. Therefore, in this work, a detailed mechanism for the pyrolysis and oxidation of ABE is presented containing 350 species and more than 10,000 reactions. The mechanism is validated against newly acquired and published pyrolysis data for the ABE-mixture and the respective components. Excellent agreement is obtained between measured and simulated product yields as a function of the conversion. Laminar flame speed computations of alcohols and ABE complement the detailed comparisons of the pyrolysis data and allow for further validation of the combustion behavior of bio-butanol and its mixtures.