An Experimental and Kinetic Modelling Study on Laminar Premixed Flame Characteristics of Ethanol/Acetone Mixtures

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript and research work on the Experimental and Kinetic Modelling Study of Ethanol/Ace-2 tone Mixtures is quite relevant and I hope this would contribute significantly to the automobile industry. There are a few suggestions and comments to improve the quality and clarity of this manuscript.

1. Few sentences in the abstract are not clear and confusing like lines number 13 to 17. Please rephrase these sentences.
2. Please mention briefly the method of experiment and simulation in the abstract. I would suggest re-writing of abstract. Make it more compact and meaningful.
3. The introduction part is fine, but the English language is not used professionally. It would be great if you get help from some professional in this regard.
4. Figure 1 and can be improved as well. Please see a similar kind of work where you can get an idea about the Figure 1 modification. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164973.
5. Can you add a Figure of an experimental device in section 2.1?
6. It would be great if you can add software details in the validation section.
7. The simulation details are not enough. It should be given in detail so each reader can understand the methodology.
8. Figures 9 and 10 do have not enough resolution.
9. Could you add a reason for laminar burning velocity increment with increasing ethanol content in your discussion section?
10. Please mention the reason and accuracy of skeletal mechanisms in the Result section.

 

Best wishes,

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Ms No: Energies – 1415484

Title: An Experimental and Kinetic Modelling Study of Ethanol/Acetone Mixtures

Authors: Yangxun Liu, Weinan Liu, Huihong Liao, Wenhua Zhou, Yuqi Huang, Cangsu Xu

 

Evaluation

The present paper deals with experimental and modelling study of ethanol/acetone mixtures in order to be applied in combustion engine. The English language require minor check. The paper is suitable of publication after revisions based on the comments below.

 

Comments

1. The title of the paper is rather misleading. Authors should add the purpose of the Ethanol/Acetone mixtures. A potential reader wouldn’t understand the purpose of the paper. A possible title could be the following: “An Experimental and Kinetic Modelling Study of Ethanol/Acetone Mixtures for combustion engines” or something like that.

 

2. In line 20 I don’t quite understand the word: “reduced” in the sentence.

 

3. It is essential for authors to clarify the reasons for which they study these particular mixtures in these particular ratios. In introduction section they are referring to other authors. They should enrich the text with some parts highlighting why they make this research. Are these ratios typically used? The choice of these ratios was based in former measurements?

 

4. Authors should enrich the conclusions section by highlighting the novelty of the paper. Is this the first time that these ratios of the examined ethanol/acetone mixtures were investigated concerning their burning velocities? It is absolutely essential to highlight the novelty of the present work. Please add references in order to facilitate the reader.

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Overall, a nice paper. It seems scientifically sound. The English orthography could be improved. I will leave this to the authors and editors to address.

Author Response

The English has been modifiedy professionally

Reviewer 4 Report

This a prinicipally nicely written paper on an intersting subject. However, prior to publication, the following points shall be clarified in a revision:

1) On Line 132, the „laminar“ burning velocity is mentioned. How do the authors know that (or if) the flame front remains laminar ?

2) On Line 134, isobaric combustion is made. How come ? This is a constant volume combustor. With combustion, the pressure would increase.

3) There is a simple rule (similar to that of LeChatelier‘s rule for flammability limits) to calculate the flame speeds in mixtures by a simple algebraic expression. This was used, e.g in

Di Sarli, V., Di Benedetto, A., 2007. Laminar burning velocity of hydrogen methane/air premixed flames. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 32, 637–646.

or

Benim, A. C., Syed, K. J., 2015. Flashback Mechanisms in Lean Premixed Gas Turbine Combustion. Academic Press, page 21.

I wonder, how this rule performs in estimating the flame speeds of the current mixtures. I think that it would be an interesting comparsion and I suggest that the authors do it.

4) The Equation number (7) is used, wrongly, twice.

 

Author Response

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Reviewer 5 Report

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Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Reviewer 6 Report

First, I would like to congratulate the authors of a very good manuscript.

The authors present an extensive study of, the burning characteristics of three ethanol-acetone fuel blends, 25% vol. ethanol/75% vol. acetone, 50% vol. ethanol/50% vol. acetone and 75% vol. ethanol/25% vol. acetone, using the constant volume combustion chamber (CVCC) method. The study CVCC measurements, as well as simulations using available reaction mechanisms from AramcoMech 3.0

I have only two or three questions.

1. What was the pressure course in the chamber during the tests? Can you show the graph?
2. Why a cubic test chamber and not a cylinder?
3. Why was equivalence ratio selected for rich mixtures? From practical point of view it is not reasonable.

Please show if possible in the tables review of abbreviations, measurement errors, apparatus and measurement system.

Summary: The content of the article is very interesting, conclusion is useful and discussion is in detail. The analysis of literature is very good. The article will be very useful for researchers. Therefore I recommend this article to be published in journal Energies.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors have made all the appropriate changes and I believe that the paper is suitable of publication in the present form.