Comparative sulphur cation chemistry in a hydrocarbon flame with H2S, OCS, and SO2 additives

Abstract

A fuel-rich, conical, premixed, methane–oxygen flame at atmospheric pressure was doped separately with 0.2 mol% of H2S, OCS, and SO2 to probe the chemistry of sulphur at its source during combustion. These three additives represent a broad range of fuel-sulphur contaminants since they occur early, intermediate, and late in the sulphur oxidation sequence. A wide variety of sulphurous cations, formed by chemical ionization reactions, is observed for each additive by sampling the flame into a mass spectrometer. The total ionization profile measured along the flame axis is enhanced in the reaction zone when a sulphur additive is present; the mechanism involves the formation of sulphurous negative ions which reduces the rates of cation loss by electron–ion recombination and ambipolar diffusion. Mass spectra measured in the mass range 10–110 u at fixed points on the flame axis are very similar for all three additives, and are not helpful in the identification of the additive. However, the general presence of sulphur is evident from large signals measured near the reaction zone at five principal mass numbers; namely, 45 u (CHS+), 47 u (CH3S+), 58 u (C2H2S+), 59 u (C2H3S+), and 69 u (C3HS+) related to CS, thioformaldehyde, thioketene, and C3S.