Autoignition of Butanol Isomers at Low to Intermediate Temperature and Elevated Pressure

Autoignition delay experiments for the isomers of butanol, including n-, sec-, tert-, and iso-butanol, have been performed using a heated rapid compression machine. For a compressed pressure of 15 bar, the compressed temperatures have been varied in the range of 725-855 K for all the stoichiometric fuel/oxidizer mixtures. Over the conditions investigated in this study, the ignition delay decreases monotonically as temperature increases and exhibits single-stage characteristics. Experimental ignition delays are also compared to simulations computed using three kinetic mechanisms available in the literature. Reasonable agreement is found for three isomers (tert-, iso-, and n-butanol).