Combustion Chemistry

Alternate fuels form an important part of the existing and future solutions to sustainability. Hence, understanding how these fuels combust and produce green house gases is of importance. This course introduces the chemistry required to obtain this understanding. The course starts with basics of thermodynamics, fuels and chemistry (no prior knowledge in chemical kinetics is assumed) and slowly advances towards a detailed understanding of the reactions involved during the combustion of fuels. The exercises in the course are designed to start from the basics and then advance towards introducing and using chemical kinetic tools like RMG (reaction mechanism generator) and Cantera for the creation and analysis of the reaction mechanisms of combustion of the fuels. The course also introduces the combustion chemistry of sustainable aviation fuels, oxygenated fuels, ammonia, nitrogen oxides and aromatics (responsible for soot). By the end of the course, students would be able to create and reduce chemical kinetic mechanisms.