Conference Paper

Application of Graphene Oxide in Jet A-1 in Air to Enhance Combustion Process

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... Graphene-based nanomaterials have been considered as effective catalysts for the oxidation of fuel and propellant including nitromethane [61], nitrocellulose [62], carbon monoxide [63], methylcylcohexane [64], Jatropha Methyl Ester [65], diesel and biodiesel blends [66], and various jet fuels [67][68][69] in the past decade. Hence, the fundamental understanding of catalytic reaction mechanisms by graphene-based nanomaterials is highly desirable for improving their practical applications. ...
... Graphene-based materials such as functionalized graphene sheets (FGS) have recently proven to be effective catalysts for fuel and propellant combustion [61,62,[65][66][67][68][69]. The advantages are that they can enhance fuel combustion reactions, be energetically involved in the combustion process, and be ultimately consumed without NOx, the brake thermal efficiency, peak cylinder pressure, highest rate of pressure rise, and peak heat release rate were increased using JME-GO. ...
... It was found that graphene nanoplatelets had an outstanding performance by obtaining more than a 7% increase in burning rate at only a 0.1% particle loading. Recently, Li et al. [69] reported that the combustion performance of Jet A-1 fuel in air was improved in the presence of GO nanosheets, which decreased the strength and speed of initial The size of the cubic simulation box is changed accordingly to maintain the same density for every system. A Conolly surface with a radius of 1.0 Å is created to evaluate the volume of the FGS. ...
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The present research employs the ReaxFF (a force field for reactive systems) molecular dynamics simulation method to investigate the detailed microscopic modelling for complex chemistry of fuel oxidation and catalytic reactions on graphenebased nanomaterials at the atomic level. Specifically, in total, four different systems are studied in detail. Firstly, the fundamental reaction mechanisms of hydrous ethanol oxidation in comparison with the ethanol oxidation under fuel-air condition is investigated. The results indicate that it is the addition of water that promotes the OH production due to the chemical effect of H2O leading to the enhancement of ethanol oxidation and reduction of CO production. Secondly, the fundamental study on mechanisms of thermal decomposition and oxidation of aluminium hydride is conducted. It is found that the thermal decomposition and oxidation of aluminium hydride proceed in three distinctive stages ((1) Pre-diffusion; (2) Core-shell integration; (3) Post-diffusion, and (I) Oxygen adsorption; (II) Fast dehydrogenation; (III) Al oxidation), respectively. Thirdly, the catalytic mechanisms and kinetics of methane oxidation assisted by Platinum/graphene-based catalysts are studied. Platinumdecorated functionalized graphene sheet is reported to be the most effective catalyst among all the involved nanoparticle candidates and it improves the catalytic activity by dramatically lowering the activation energy by approximately 73% compared with pure methane oxidation. Fourthly, the initiation mechanisms of JP-10 pyrolysis and oxidation with functionalized graphene sheets in comparison with normal JP-10 reactions are revealed. The results suggest that both pyrolysis and oxidation of JP-10 are advanced and enhanced in the presence of functionalized graphene sheets. Additionally, the functional groups also participate in various intermediate reactions to further enhance the pyrolysis and oxidation of JP-10. In summary, the new findings from the present research could contribute to the design and improvement of the future high-performance energy and propulsion systems, especially for the promising graphene-containing fuel/propellant formulations.
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