Physics:Zel'dovich mechanism

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Zel'dovich mechanism is a chemical mechanism that describes the oxidation of nitrogen and NOx formation, first proposed by the Russian scientists Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, David A. Frank-Kamenetskii and P. Ya. Sadovnikov in 1947.[1][2][3] The reaction mechanisms read as

[math]\ce{ {N2} + O <->[k_1] {NO} + {N}, }[/math]
[math]\ce{ {N} + O2 <->[k_2] {NO} + {O}, }[/math]

where [math]\displaystyle{ k_1 }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ k_2 }[/math] are the reaction rate constants in Arrhenius law. The overall global reaction is given by

[math]\ce{ {N2} + {O2} <->[k] 2NO. }[/math]

The overall reaction rate is mostly governed by the first reaction (i.e., rate-determining reaction), since the second reaction is much faster than the first reaction and occurs immediately following the first reaction. At fuel-rich conditions, due to lack of oxygen, reaction 2 becomes weak, hence, a third reaction is included in the mechanism, also known as extended Zel'dovich mechanism (with all three reactions),[4][5]

[math]\ce{ {N} + {OH} <->[k_3] {NO} + {H}. }[/math]

The forward rate constants of the reactions are given by[6]

[math]\displaystyle{ \begin{align} k_{1f} &= 1.47\times 10^{13} \, T^{0.3} e^{-75286.81/RT},\\ k_{2f} &= 6.40\times 10^9 \, T e^{-6285.5/RT}, \\ k_{3f} &= 3.80\times 10^{13}, \end{align} }[/math]

where the pre-exponential factor is measured in units of cm, mol, s and K, temperature in kelvins, and the activation energy in cal/mol; R is the universal gas constant.

NO formation

The rate of NO concentration is given by

[math]\displaystyle{ \frac{d[\mathrm{NO}]}{dt}= k_{1f} [\mathrm{N}_2] [\mathrm{O}] + k_{2f} [\mathrm{N}] [\mathrm{O}_2] + k_{3f} [\mathrm{N}] [\mathrm{OH}] - k_{1b} [\mathrm{NO}] [\mathrm{N}] - k_{2b} [\mathrm{NO}] [\mathrm{O}] - k_{3b} [\mathrm{NO}] [\mathrm{H}]. }[/math]

References

  1. Zeldovich, Y. A., D. Frank-Kamenetskii, and P. Sadovnikov. Oxidation of nitrogen in combustion. Publishing House of the Acad of Sciences of USSR, 1947.
  2. Williams, Forman A. "Combustion theory". (1985).
  3. Zeldovich, I. A., Barenblatt, G. I., Librovich, V. B., Makhviladze, G. M. (1985). Mathematical theory of combustion and explosions.
  4. Lavoie, G. A., Heywood, J. B., Keck, J. C. (1970). Experimental and theoretical study of nitric oxide formation in internal combustion engines. Combustion science and technology, 1(4), 313–326.
  5. Hanson, R. K., Salimian, S. (1984). Survey of rate constants in the N/H/O system. In Combustion chemistry (pp. 361–421). Springer, New York, NY.
  6. "San Diego Mechanism". http://web.eng.ucsd.edu/mae/groups/combustion/mechanism.html.