Kinetic study of ignition process of ammonia/n‐heptane fuel blends under engine conditions

Abstract Pilot‐ignited ammonia‐fueled engines have drawn more and more attention for low carbon emissions compared to traditional diesel engines. The ignition processes of NH3/NC7H16 mixtures under compression ignition engine‐like conditions are numerically investigated. By comparing the ignition delay times (IDTs) calculated by six ammonia mechanisms with experimental data, the Glarborg mechanism is selected. Then, the Glarborg mechanism and the Zhang detailed n‐heptane mechanism are merged into a new mechanism, which is adopted in the present study. Results show that the negative temperature coefficient behavior of the IDTs is only observed as the ammonia mass fraction is 70%. Only temperature has a significant effect on IDTs at all research conditions, and the effect of ammonia mass fraction is significant when the temperature is lower than 1000 K. However, the effects of equivalence ratio and pressure are small, especially at high temperatures, high equivalence ratios, and high pressures. Interestingly, the IDTs are categorized into three regions by temperature and ammonia mass fraction. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the sensitivity coefficients of most reactions associated with ammonia decrease with a decrease in ammonia mass fraction, whereas only R4210 is sensitive to ammonia mass fraction for n‐heptane‐related reactions. Rates of production and consumption (ROP) analyses indicate that the ammonia mass fraction mainly affects the ROPs of NC7H16, NH3, and NNH at low and medium temperatures, whereas the ammonia mass fraction affects the ROP of H2NO before the temperature of 2000 K. The ROPs of NC7H16, NH3, and NNH significantly increase with increasing temperature, whereas the ROP of H2NO slightly increases with increasing temperature. The increase of temperature in the early and middle stages is mainly contributed by the oxidation of n‐heptane, while the increase of temperature in the middle and late stages is mainly contributed by the oxidation of ammonia.