Autoignition of hydrocarbons in a batch reactor: Analysis of a reduced model Original Research Article

In the late 1960s Gray and Yang developed the first reduced kinetic model for the oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels that qualitatively described many features observed experimentally. Since then a number of reduced kinetic models have been proposed in the literature. In this contribution we analyse the steady-state behaviour of one such scheme. The chemical component of the model contains four chemical species undergoing six reactions. By making a pool chemical approximation this system is reduced to three coupled non-linear differential equations: a temperature equation and equations for two reactive chemical intermediates. It is shown that any steady-state solution of this model having a steady-state temperature greater than 420 K is non-physical as the steady-state concentrations of the chemical species are negative. Hence this particular scheme does not simulate closed-vessel experiments and is defective as an extension of the Gray–Yang model.