Ion chemistry of transition metals in hydrocarbon flames. I. Cations of Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn

Abstract

A fuel-rich, premixed, conical, methane–oxygen flame at 2200 K and atmospheric pressure is doped with approximately 1 ppm of the transition metals Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn. Metallic ions of these metals and their compounds formed by chemical ionization reactions with H3O+ are observed by sampling the flame through a nozzle into a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Concentration profiles of individual and total cations are measured as a function of distance along the flame axis, and also mass spectra at a fixed point in the burnt gas. For a given metal A, the mass spectra are dominated by the atomic ion A+ with smaller amounts of the molecular ions AH+, AOH+, A(OH)H+, A(OH)2H+, and ACO+ and their hydrates. The spectra for Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu are very similar, but no ions are observed for Zn. The ion chemistry is dominated by proton transfer reactions from H3O+ to A and to the metallic compounds AO, AOH, and A(OH)2 which exist in the flame. In addition, A+ can be formed from the reaction of H3O+ with A by a charge transfer process. Also, some ions are formed by three-body association and free radical stripping reactions. The chemistry is discussed in detail to explain the relative magnitudes of the ion signals observed. In particular, when the atomic A+ ion is dominant, its concentration can reach a superequilibrium level early in the burnt-gas region before it slowly decays downstream; the phenomenon is similar to the free radical overshoot which occurs in hydrogen flames.