Paper # 070RK-0172 Topic: Reaction Kinetics 8 th U. S. National Combustion Meeting Organized by the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute and hosted by the University of Utah May 19-22, 2013 High Pressure Studies of Propene Combustion Jeffrey Santner, 1 Francis M. Haas, 1 Xiaobo Shen, 1,2 Yiguang Ju, 1 Frederick L. Dryer, 1 1 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Engineering Quad, Olden Street, Princeton, NJ 08544 2 State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China Oxidation of propene, an important stable intermediate formed in the combustion of C 3 and larger hydrocarbons and oxygenated biofuels, was studied in both a high pressure laminar flow reactor at ~800 K and in high pressure rich and lean premixed laminar flames. These experimental platforms provide insight to propene oxidation kinetics for a broad range of temperature and fuel loading conditions at high pressure, where few experimental data are available. Such high pressure conditions shift the chemistry to regimes of higher kinetic uncertainty and sensitivity. Lean premixed laminar burning rates measured up to 20 atm in a nearly constant pressure chamber agree with model predictions, though model predictions are significantly slower for rich conditions. Rich flame predictions are particularly sensitive to reactions of the fuel and its fragments that control the radical pool, such as CH 3 +H(+M)=CH 4 (+M), C 3 H 6 +H=aC 3 H 5 +H 2 , aC 3 H 4 +H=aC 3 H 5 , and reactions of other C 1 and C 2 fragments. Flow reactor measurements at 15 atm and ~800 K reveal slow reaction with none observed at 770 K, both observations being in contrast with predictions using models found in the literature. Predictions of flow reactor species evolution profiles are sensitive to initiation reactions involving long-lived resonantly-stable allyl (aC 3 H 5 ) radical self- recombination. Inclusion of this reaction submodel greatly increases predicted induction time and improves model predictions of species gradients. 1. Introduction Propene (C 3 H 6 ) is an important intermediate alkene formed in the combustion of C 3 and larger hydrocarbons and oxygenated biofuels/additives. For example, at high temperatures, n-alkane decomposition typically proceeds via H-atom abstraction, followed by β-scission, producing an alkyl radical and an alkene. This alkyl radical can further decompose