Advances in Combustion Processes: Fundamentals and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue on "Advances in Combustion Processes: Fundamentals and Applications" aims to explore the latest advancements in combustion processes. Combustion science remains a cornerstone of energy systems, industrial processes, and technological innovation, driving advancements from power generation to aerospace propulsion. While decarbonization efforts have spurred significant interest in alternative fuels, fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas, diesel, coal) remain integral to global energy infrastructure. Their continued use necessitates innovations in cleaner combustion technologies, carbon capture, and emission mitigation. Concurrently, alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, biofuels, and metal powders offer pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but which require rigorous scientific validation to ensure scalability and safety.

This Special Issue emphasizes the universality of combustion principles while celebrating the diversity of fuels, encouraging submissions that explore synergies, trade-offs, and novel applications across the energy spectrum.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Fundamental Combustion Characterization: Measurements of laminar burning velocity, ignition delay times, extinction limits, and speciation profiles in canonical systems (shock tubes, jet-stirred reactors, and spray combustion setups).
2. Reaction Kinetics and Mechanisms: High-precision determination of rate constants, uncertainty quantification, mechanism reduction/optimization, and validation for fuels ranging from hydrocarbons to zero-carbon energy carriers.
3. Diagnostics and Modeling: Development of in situ optical diagnostics (e.g., PLIF, Raman spectroscopy, chemiluminescence), machine learning-enhanced simulations, and high-fidelity CFD for probing turbulent flames, multiphase combustion, and soot formation.
4. Combustion applications: Bridging experimental and computational research to address combustion performance, flame stability, and emission formation in real-world systems (e.g., internal combustion engines, gas turbines, industrial burners, and aerospace propulsion).
5. Emission Control and Sustainability: Strategies to minimize CO₂, NOₓ, particulate matter, and unburned hydrocarbons through combustion optimization, catalytic aftertreatment, or hybrid energy systems.
6. Cross-Fuel Comparative Analysis: Evaluation of combustion efficiency, environmental impact, and techno-economic feasibility across fuel types, grounded in kinetic and thermodynamic insights.

We invite researchers from academia, industry, and government institutions to contribute their original research articles, reviews, and case studies to this Special Issue. It is anticipated that this collection of articles will provide valuable insights and contribute to the ongoing efforts in advancing combustion systems.

Dr. Xinlu Han
Dr. Zhongqian Ling
Dr. Dingkun Yuan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• alternative fuels
• fossil fuels
• combustion processes
• fundamental combustion properties
• reaction kinetics
• combustion applications
• advanced experimental techniques
• computational modeling