Electron ionization, photoionization and photoelectron/photoion coincidence spectroscopy in mass-spectrometric investigations of a low-pressure ethylene/oxygen flame

Abstract Quantitative species data for the development and critical examination of combustion mechanisms are in high demand regarding the need for predictive combustion models that may assess the emission potential of current and emerging fuels. Mass spectrometric investigation is one of the often-used techniques to provide mole fractions of stable and reactive intermediates including radicals from specifically designed laboratory experiments. Molecular-beam mass spectrometry (MBMS) has been coupled with electron ionization (EI) and photoionization (PI) to determine the species compositions, and combinations of these techniques have been successful in the investigation of the combustion pathways in flames of numerous hydrocarbon, oxygenated and nitrogenated fuels. Photoelectron/photoion coincidence spectroscopy (PEPICO) has recently emerged as a novel diagnostics to be combined with flame-sampling mass spectrometry, and its potential as a complement of existing techniques is just about being explored. In a multi-laboratory investigation, the present study has thus combined four different MBMS spectrometers (in Bielefeld, Germany, the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, USA, the Swiss Light Source in Villigen, Switzerland, and the SOLEIL synchrotron in St. Aubin, France) to study a rich premixed argon-diluted low-pressure (40 mbar) ethylene–oxygen flame under comparable conditions. This was done with the aim of illustrating the respective properties and capabilities of the methods under these conditions, with an emphasis on the power offered by the synchrotron-based techniques, including PEPICO, for combustion chemistry studies. Examples include comparisons of selected species quantification as well as PEPICO spectra measured at different instruments.