Measurements of laminar burning velocities and an improved kinetic model of methyl isopropyl ketone

Methyl isopropyl ketone (MIPK) is the simplest branched ketone and a promising biofuel. In this work, laminar burning velocities (S_L) of MIPK + air flames were measured using the heat flux method at atmospheric pressure, over initial mixture temperatures of 298–358 K and equivalence ratios of 0.7–1.4. With the help of the temperature dependence of the S_L, data inconsistency between the present measurements and the experimental data reported by Li et al. (Proc. Combust. Inst. 38 (2021) 2135) was demonstrated. Moreover, existing kinetic models for MIPK combustion notably deviate from the present S_L measurements. Therefore, the MIPK model suggested by Lin et al. (Proc. Combust. Inst. 39 (2023) 315) was updated by revisiting the MIPK H-abstraction reactions and methyl isopropenyl ketone sub-model. Furthermore, a new di-methyl ketene (critical intermediate during MIPK oxidation) sub-model was constructed and integrated into the MIPK model. Flux and sensitivity analyses revealed that integration of the new di-methyl ketene model improves predictions of the laminar burning velocities as well as shock tube ignition delay times over the pressures of 1–40 bar due to converting di-methyl ketene into C₃H₅-T (CH₂ = C˙CH₃) rather than C₃H₆ or C₃H₅-S (C˙H = CHCH₃) predicted by other MIPK models from the literature. Updates of the MIPK H-abstraction reactions yield more reasonable products branching ratios of formation of the primary fuel radicals, and improve prediction of the S_L. It was also found that the rate constants of the MIPK decomposition reaction (MIPK (+M) = CH₃CO + IC₃H₇ (+M)) in the model proposed by Li et al. (Proc. Combust. Inst. 38 (2021) 2135) are significantly underestimated, resulting in underestimation of the present S_L measurements and significant overprediction of the ignition delay times.