Electric field effects on oxidation coking deposition of n-pentane in needle-tube flow reactor

For the purpose of inhibiting carbon deposition in the low-temperature oxidation process of aviation fuel in the fuel injector, a new multi-field coupling method was proposed. 95% pure n-pentane was selected as the experimental fuel. A needle-tube flow reactor that could provide a high voltage environment was designed. Thermal oxidation deposits under the voltage from 0 V to 5000 V were compared at inlet fuel temperature of 600 K. The deposits on the wall and the electrode of the reactor under different voltages were measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and temperature programmed oxidation (TPO). The experimental results show that the discharge can reduce the diameter of the deposits and with the increase of the voltage, the maximum coke formation on the reactor wall was reduced by 19.01%. Through oxygen content analysis, the discharge consumed more dissolved oxygen. The flow field in the reactor was studied by numerical simulation. Maxwell and Navier-Stokes equations for a three-dimensional physical model were solved by the finite volume method. The secondary flow and the increased velocity caused by the discharge retarded the accumulation of deposits. This paper used the fuel stable discharge phenomenon to provide new means for suppressing the oxidation deposition.