Serial progresses in combustion studies have been achieved by the Combustion group at National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (NSRL), applying the novel synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization mass spectrometry (SVUV-PIMS) in studies of laminar premixed flame, flow reactor pyrolysis, coflow diffusion flame, catalytic assisted combustion, plasma diagnostics and plasma assisted combustion, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) diagnostics, etc. Research results have been published on many international peer-reviewed journals such as Science, Combustion and Flame, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Review of Scientific Instruments, and Energy & Fuels. As invited by the Editor of Accounts of Chemical Research, a noted international journal, the Combustion group presented a review on these progresses at 2010.

Combustion research group atNSRL collaborated with Professor Battin-Leclerc from the University of Nancy in France recently. They combined synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization mass spectrometer with a jet-stirred reactor for study of low-temperature oxidation of alkanes. A series of hydroperoxides were detected from the low-temperature oxidation of n-butane. This result gives the first experimental confirmation of an assumption, which has been accepted for more than 20 years but never proven. The results have been published on the journals of Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Proc. Combust. Inst. and Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. Furthermore the work was highlighted by Nature China, titled with “No smoke without fire, and no fire without hydroperoxides”.

Combustion research group collaborated with German and American scientists to study a serial of alcohols. Fox example, they have carried out a collaborative study of four butanol isomer fuels in low pressure premixed laminar flames with professor Kohse-Höinghaus’s group. The detailed space distribution of the flames species have been measured. And their work was published as the featured cover article on the journal Combustion and Flame in January 2011; And, the international noted journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition published a review article entitled “Biofuel Combustion Chemistry: From Ethanol to Biodiesel” on the cover. In the review article, they summarized the recent research development in the biofuels combustion chemistry and predicted the tendency and applications of biofuels in the near future.

Fig. 1. Photoionization mass spectrum obtained for the oxidation of n-butane. The temperature in the reactor was 590 K and the photon energy was 10.0 eV.