Minimum ignition energy of hydrogen-air and methane-air mixtures at temperatures as low as 200 K

Anupam Ghosh, Natalia M. Munoz-Munoz, Deanna A. Lacoste*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to measure the minimum ignition energy (MIE) of methane-air and hydrogen-air mixtures at low temperatures and atmospheric pressure. Initial fuel-air mixture temperatures as low as 200 K were considered, for a constant equivalence ratio of 1.0 for methane-air and 0.16 for hydrogen-air. The ignition source was a spark, generated by a high-voltage pulse of 100 μs duration, applied on two pin electrodes of 0.1-mm diameter, separated by a gap distance of 1 mm. The experimental methodology was validated by comparing the results obtained with those from previous studies available in the literature. First, for methane-air mixtures, the MIE as a function of the equivalence ratio followed the same trend at 295 K and 255 K, i.e., its lowest value was obtained for a stoichiometric mixture. Second, when the temperature of the mixture was decreased, the MIE increased linearly for both fuels. The rate at which the MIE changed was higher for hydrogen-air (−7.9 μJ/K) than for methane-air (−3.4 μJ/K). Overall, this study provides valuable information on the MIE of methane-air and hydrogen-air mixtures at low temperatures, which can be useful for the design of cryogenic fuel storage systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)30653-30659
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Volume47
Issue number71
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 19 2022

Keywords

  • Combustion
  • Cryogenic storage of hydrogen
  • MIE
  • Spark ignition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Fuel Technology
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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