Importance of mass and enthalpy conservation in the modelling of titania nanoparticles flame synthesis

Abstract

In most simulations of fine particles in reacting flows, including sooting flames, enthalpy exchanges between gas and particle phases and differential diffusion between the two phases can be neglected, since the particle mass fraction is generally very small. However, when the nanoparticles mass fraction is very large representing up to 50% of the mixture mass, the conservation of the total enthalpy and/or the total mass becomes critical. In the present paper, we investigate the impact of mass and enthalpy conservation in the modelling of titania nanoparticles synthesis in flames, classically characterised by a high conversation rate and consequently a high nanoparticles concentration. It is shown that when the nanoparticles concentration is high, neglecting the enthalpy of the particle phase may lead to almost 70% relative error on the temperature profile and to relative errors on the main titania species mass fractions and combustion products ranging from 20% to 100%. It is also established that neglecting the differential diffusion of the gas phase with respect to the particle phase is also significant, with almost 15% relative error on the TiO mole fraction, although the effect on combustion products is minor.