Alternate Author Name(s)

Dr. David Hughes, PhD '74

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

1974

Keywords

Chemical kinetics, Ammonia, Flammability

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Clifford E. Myers

Second Advisor

William R. Transue

Third Advisor

Bruce McDuffie

Abstract

Since the early interest of Henry in burning ammonia with electric sparks, the literature of ammonia oxidation has been extensive. The major efforts have been industrially related and concern themselves with catalytic oxidation and its mechanism. The flame oxidation of ammonia has attracted more modest interest because of the relative poorness of ammonia as a fuel. Lunge, for example, found that an ammonia-air flame would hardly burn at room temperature and could be maintained only with constant heating. This dissertation concerns itself with the mechanism of the flame oxidation of ammonia and therefore the reactions that transform ammonia and oxygen into nitrogen and water. The introduction chronologically lists work in which reactions and rate constants pertinent to such a study are presented. Reactions that will be discussed in an organized manner later on in this dissertation as comprising a possible mechanism will be numbered. This discussion begins on page 23. Reactions that only appear in the introduction will be labelled by lowercase Roman numerals.

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