Control of Soot Emitted from Acetylene Diffusion Flames by

Applying an Electric Field

MASAHIRO SAITO, TOSHIHIRO ARAI, and MASATAKA ARAI*
Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Gunma University, Tenjin-cho, Kiryu 376-8515, Japan

This paper deals with the control of soot emission from acetylene diffusion flames by applying an electric field.
The effects of applied voltage, polarity, and spacing of electrodes on soot emissions were investigated
experimentally. The results showed that the shape of the flame changed remarkably with increasing applied
voltage. The polarity of the applied voltage influenced the shape of the flame and the soot emissions. When a
positive voltage was applied to the nozzle electrode, the flame length became shorter and the width at the flame
tip was spread at high voltages. More than 90% of the soot emission was suppressed at over 200 kV/m of electric
field intensity. Also, the flame temperature increased with increasing applied voltage. In particular, in the case
of voltages above 200 kV/m, the temperatures at the flame tip were about 500°C higher than in the absence of
an electric field. The rise of flame temperature was caused by the air entrainment promoted by an ionic wind.
It was concluded that the soot reduction by applying an electric field was due to the oxidation of soot particles.
In contrast, when negative voltages were applied to the nozzle electrode, the efficiency of soot control was
limited to about 70% because the flame temperature, even at high applied voltages, was comparable to that in
the absence of the electric field. © 1999 by The Combustion Institute

NOMENCLATURE ation, and growth in laminar acetylene/air dif-

fusion flames. They reported that soot forma-
F Electric field intensity, kV/m
tion began when temperatures reached roughly
h Spacing of electrodes, mm
980°C and fuel decomposition yielded acety-
I Electric current, ␮ A
lene. Also, soot nucleation rates were correlated
Lf Flame length, mm
with a first-order acetylene reaction. Significant
Mf Mass flow rate of fuel, mg/s
levels of soot nucleation and growth require
MS Soot emission at applied electric field,
temperatures higher than roughly 980°C and
mg
fuel-equivalence ratios larger than 1.14. With
MS0 Soot emission at nonapplied electric
regard to the control of soot emission by addi-
field, mg
tives, Du et al. [3] reported the effects of various
Tf Flame surface temperature, °C
gaseous additives on the soot particle inception
Wf Flame width, mm
limit. The addition of H2 increases flame tem-
Z Distance from nozzle, mm
perature and is effective at suppressing soot
␭ Wavelength, nm
inception in flames. Chung et al. [4, 5] con-
ducted experimental studies on the suppression
INTRODUCTION of soot by metal additives during the combus-
tion of polystyrene. They reported that the
Generally, it is well known that soot emission combination of two metals (i.e., K and Ca, Sr, or
occurs when fuel is burnt in insufficient oxygen. Ba) is much more effective than each metal
In order to control soot emission in the case of singly at the same addition rate and that the
a premixed flame of gaseous fuel, it is necessary maximum percentage of soot suppression
to supply enough oxygen for combustion. Also, reaches approximately 90%.
promotion of mixing between fuel and oxygen is Concerning soot reduction by applying elec-
necessary in the case of a diffusion flame. Many tric fields, it has been found by Weinberg et al.
studies on soot formation, nucleation and con- [6 – 8] that the quantity of soot emitted from a
trol of soot emission have been conducted. flame decreased considerably when an electric
Faeth et al. [1, 2] studied soot formation, nucle- field was applied to a flame. They investigated
the effects of applied electric fields on the
*Corresponding author. E-mail: arai@me.gunma.u.ac.jp process of soot formation in diffusion flames:
COMBUSTION AND FLAME 119:356 –366 (1999)
0010-2180/99/$–see front matter © 1999 by The Combustion Institute
PII S0010-2180(99)00065-6 Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
CONTROL OF SOOT BY APPLYING ELECTRIC FIELD 357

nucleation, growth in the pyrolysis zone, and

deposition. They reported that the rate of gen-
eration of particles depends on both the polarity
and magnitude of the ion flux through the
pyrolysis zone. The positive ions act as nuclei
for the formation of soot particles. Negative
charges do not appear to act as nuclei but tend
to reduce soot formation by neutralizing posi-
tive-ion nuclei. In order to study the process
occurring during the very early (nucleation)
stage of formation of carbon particles in flames,
they measured particle mobility and carbon
particle size when a potential is applied across
flat, counter-flow diffusion flame. They re-
ported that particles have mobilities ranging
from 10⫺3 to 3 ⫻ 10⫺2 cm2 s⫺1 V⫺1, depending
on the applied potential. From detailed size
analyses by electron micrographs, carbon parti-
cles with 50 nm diameter with no applied field
reduced to about 10 nm in diameter with a small Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus.
electric field of several kV. Also, Lawton and
Weinberg [9] reviewed the electrical aspects of
combustion. They have demonstrated theoreti- electric fields on diffusion flames of propane/air
cally and experimentally the effects of electric in coaxial flow.
field on flames, ions, electrons, charged parti- The size, structure and concentration of the
cles, and on electrically induced ionic velocity. soot particles were measured in both cases with
They investigated flame distortion in uniform or and without an electric field. When an alternat-
nonuniform electric fields and observed soot ing electric field was applied, oxidation of soot
particle size using electron micrographs. particles was enhanced because the electric field
Bradley et al. [10 –12] reviewed the effect of controlled the formation and the growth of soot
electric fields on combustion processes, and particles.
studied the blow-off characteristics of premixed However, few quantitative investigations re-
methane–air flames when coronas are gener- garding the effects of applied voltage, polarity,
ated around the rim of a cylindrical burner. The and spacing of electrodes on soot emission have
application of DC electrical fields showed that a been reported. Also, the mechanism of soot
negative corona at the flame tip produced an reduction by applying electric fields is not fully
increased flow rate at blow-off. The blow-off understood at present. In this study, the influ-
flow rates were increased by the electric field ences of electric field variables such as applied
even before the onset of corona. Ohisa et al. voltage, polarity, spacing of electrodes on the
[13] reported the effect of DC or AC corona flame shape, and the soot emission for acetylene
discharges on soot emission from a propane diffusion flames were examined. Furthermore,
turbulent diffusion flame. A considerable reduc- the flame temperature was measured in order to
tion in soot emission was observed in the case of elucidate the mechanism of soot reduction by
both DC and AC corona discharges when the applying an electric field.
coronas were applied across the lower part of
the flame, where soot inception occurred. When EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND
a DC corona discharge was applied to the flame, METHOD
the entrainment due to corona wind played a
role on the soot reduction. Mizutani and Naka- A schematic diagram of the experimental appa-
hara [14] investigated the effect of alternating ratus is shown in Fig. 1. Acetylene was used as a
358
Fig. 2. Types of applying method of electric field between
electrodes.
fuel gas in the experiment. The flow rate of
acetylene, M f , was varied between 0.98 and 3.09
mg/s. After regulating the flow rate by a needle
valve, acetylene was discharged from the nozzle
(stainless steel pipe, o.d. 2.0 mm, i.d. 1.4 mm,
and 100 mm length) which served as an elec-
trode. The details of the nozzle electrode are
shown in Fig. 2.
A laminar diffusion flame was formed on the
nozzle electrode. The plate electrode which
imitates Rogowski’s electrode is inlaid with a
nozzle at the center position of the electrode.
The tip of the nozzle was cut and ground at a
right angle. The tip face of the nozzle is flush
with the plate electrode face. On the other side,
a brass ring (o.d. 76 mm, i.d. 52 mm, thickness
12 mm) was used as a ground electrode. DC
high voltages up to E ⫽ ⫾15 kV were applied
between the electrodes using a DC high-voltage
supply device (Spellman Co., SL-150). The
spacing of electrodes, h, was varied stepwise at
25, 50, and 100 mm. The electric current was
measured by using an ammeter attached to the
ground side. The soot particles generated in a
flame were sampled using a soot collector with a
glass fiber filter. The weight of soot particles
collected on the glass fiber filter was weighed
using an electronic balance (Shimazu Co.,
AEG-45SM) with an accuracy of 0.01 mg. The
soot emission was determined by the weight
difference of the glass fiber filter before and
after the sampling. The sampling time of soot
M. SAITO ET AL.
particles was 1 minute in each run. The flame
behavior in an applied electric field was photo-
graphed with a 35-mm camera and a video
camera, and the changes in flame shape were
measured on a monitor screen. Flame surface
temperatures were measured by means of a
two-color pyrometer (Siguma Electron Co.,
C-120). The two selected wavelengths of the
pyrometer were ␭1 ⫽ 610 nm and ␭2 ⫽ 750 nm.
In order to investigate the behavior around the
flame when applied voltage increased, flow pat-
tern was visualized by means of a smoke injec-
tion method. In addition, gas velocity at post-
flame was measured using sparkler as a tracer.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Method of Applying Electric Fields to
Electrodes
There are four combinations of applying electric
fields between the nozzle electrode and the
ground electrode:
(A) nozzle electrode (positive)/ring electrode
(ground)
(B) nozzle electrode (negative)/ring electrode
(ground)
(C) nozzle electrode (ground)/ring electrode
(negative)
(D) nozzle electrode (ground)/ring electrode
(positive)
First, we tried to examine the fundamental
characteristics of how these four methods of
applying an electric field influence flame shape
and soot emission.
From the results, it was confirmed that the
behavior of (A) coincided with that of (C), and
(B) with (D), respectively. It meant that the fuel
gas was not charged and that the flame was
affected only by the electric field applied to it.
Accordingly, we decided to proceed with two
methods: (A) nozzle electrode (positive)/ring
electrode (ground), and (B) nozzle electrode
(negative)/ring electrode (ground).
Variation of Flame Shape by Applying
Electric Fields
The variations of flame shape with increasing
applied voltage for the cases of (a) positive
CONTROL OF SOOT BY APPLYING ELECTRIC FIELD
Fig. 3. Variation of flame shape with increasing applied voltage (M f ⫽ 3.09 mg/s, h ⫽ 50 mm). (a) Positive potential. (b)
Negative potential.
potential and (b) negative potential are shown
in Fig. 3. The mass flow rate of acetylene, M f ,
was 3.09 mg/s and the spacing of electrodes, h ⫽
50 mm.
At first, in the absence of an applied voltage
(E ⫽ 0), a laminar diffusion flame formed on
the nozzle electrode. When a positive voltage of
3 kV was applied to the nozzle electrode, the tip
of flame started to spread slightly. The width of
the flame tip increased with increasing applied
voltage and sharply pointed beaks appeared in
the flame tip at high voltages above E ⫽ 9 kV.
Also, the flame length gradually decreased
with increasing applied voltage and was accom-
panied by deformation of the flame tip. The
shape of the flame tip was drastically changed,
359
but the base of the flame was unchanged even
when high voltages were applied.
On the other hand, when a negative voltage
was applied to the nozzle electrode, the flame
shape was similar to that in the absence of an
applied voltage up to E ⫽ ⫺6 kV. The flame tip
did not widen even if the negative applied
voltage increased over E ⫽ ⫺6 kV. At E ⬎
⫺12 kV, the base of the flame opened over the
nozzle electrode because the flame was crushed,
and the soot particles deposited on the nozzle
electrode were burnt. Furthermore, as a char-
acteristic phenomenon of negative potentials, a
circular blue flame of unique flame shape was
observed under the condition of E ⫽ ⫺15 kV,
Mf ⫽ 0.98 mg/s, h ⫽ 50 mm. A photograph of
360 M. SAITO ET AL.

Fig. 4. Photograph of a circular flame forming at negative

high voltage (E ⫽ ⫺15 kV, M f ⫽ 0.98 mg/s, h ⫽ 50 mm).

the typical circular blue flame is shown in

Fig. 4.

Effect of Electric Field on Flame Shape

As shown in these photographs, the flame shape

varied with the magnitude of applied voltage
and its polarity. The variations of the flame
length, L f , and width at the flame tip, W f , with
applied voltage were measured. The result in
the case of positive potential is shown in Fig. 5a.
The parameters L f and W f were defined as
illustrated in the figure. The flame length L f
begins to shorten when the applied voltage
exceeds several kV. The threshold voltage, that
is the voltage at which the flame length begins to
shorten, decreased with decreasing spacing of
electrodes. On the other hand, the flame width
at the tip, W f , spread gradually with increasing
applied voltage.
In the case of negative potentials applied to
the nozzle electrode on the contrary, the flame
length, L f , decreased gradually with increasing
applied voltage (Fig. 5b) because the flame was

™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™3
Fig. 5. Variations of the flame length and width with
increasing applied voltage. (a) Positive potential. (b) Nega-
tive potential.
CONTROL OF SOOT BY APPLYING ELECTRIC FIELD
Fig. 6. Effect of applied voltage on soot emission. (a)
Positive potential. (b) Negative potential.
crushed and the value kept constant. The volt-
age at beginning of the constant flame length
decreased with decreasing electrode spacing. In
contrast, the flame width at the tip, W f , did not
extend over the whole range of applied voltages
up to E ⫽ ⫺15 kV.
Effect of Applied Voltage on Soot Emission
The effects of the polarity of the electric field on
the soot emission from flames are shown in Figs.
6a and 6b. Figure 6a shows the effect of positive
potential on soot emission. The soot emission
was defined as the ratio of mass of soot at the
361
applied voltage to that in the absence of an
applied voltage. The value M S /M S0 was used to
evaluate the efficiency of soot reduction by the
electric field. As is evident from the figure, the
soot emission decreased steeply at several kV of
applied voltage. At E ⫽ 15 kV, the value of
M S /M S0 reached 0.1, i.e., 90% efficiency of soot
reduction. Also, in the same voltage range, the
efficiency of soot reduction decreased with in-
creasing spacing of electrodes. The effects of
negative potential on soot emission are shown
in Fig. 6b. The decrease of soot emission with
increasing applied voltage was gradually com-
pared with the positive potential. The efficiency
of soot reduction was limited at about 70%.
Payne and Weinberg [15] measured the mass
of carbon deposited on the grounded plate
electrode when a positive or negative of 2 kV
was applied to the nozzle electrode. They re-
ported that the flame was constricted and car-
bon deposited on the grounded plate electrode
was bulky in the case of negative potential. The
mass deposited with time was small compared
with that of no electric field. On the contrary, in
the case of positive potential, the amount of
carbon deposited upon the plate was small and
did not continue to increase with time. It was
found that the effect of polarity on the soot
emission characteristics was essentially similar
to the result of Payne et al.
Relation between Soot Emission and Strength
of Electric Field
Figure 7 replots these results, replacing the
applied voltage of Fig. 6 by the mean intensity
of the electric field, F (⫽ E/h [kV/m]). The
relation between the efficiency of soot reduction
and the mean intensity of the electric field was
classified into two groups according to the po-
larity of applied voltage. In the case of positive
potential, the efficiency of soot reduction ex-
ceeded 90% at electric field strength above F ⫽
200 kV/m. In the case of negative potential, the
limit of the soot reduction was 70% efficiency.
Relation between Applied Voltage and Electric
Current
When there is no flame between the electrodes,
the electric current was almost zero over a wide
362 M. SAITO ET AL.

Fig. 7. Relation between soot emission and intensity of

electric field.

range of the applied voltages up to ⫾15 kV.

Figure 8 shows the relation between applied
voltage and electric current measured with a
flame between the electrodes. The presence of a
flame leads to an electric current between the
electrodes even if the flame tip does not reach
the ground electrode, because of an electric
conductivity of the hot burned gas and the flame
which contains carbon particles and ion species.
In the case of positive potential (a), the electric
current increased linearly with increasing ap-
plied voltage. In the case of negative potential Fig. 8. Relation between applied voltage and electric cur-
(b), the electric current increased in proportion rent. (a) Positive potential. (b) Negative potential.
to the applied voltage in the range E ⬍ ⫺7 kV,
but no increase in electric current was observed
in the range at E ⬎ ⫺7 kV and ⫺9 kV for h ⫽ Variation of Flame Surface Temperature by
25 and 50 mm. This is due to the increase of Applying Electric Field
resistance between electrodes because the flame
length became extremely short in such high In an attempt to clarify the mechanism of soot
electric fields, leading to saturation. In the reduction by applying electric fields, the temper-
range of E ⬍ ⫾7 kV, the electric current in the ature of the luminous flame, T f , was measured
negative voltage case was larger than in the by means of a two-color pyrometer. Figure 9a
positive case. This seemed to be due to the shows flame temperature when positive voltages
difference of mobility of positive and negative were applied to the nozzle electrode. In the case
ions. This will be mentioned later in the detailed of E ⫽ 0, the value of T f at the base of flame
discussion. (near the nozzle) was about 1800°C, but T f
CONTROL OF SOOT BY APPLYING ELECTRIC FIELD
Fig. 9. Variation of flame surface temperature with increas-
ing applied voltage. (a) Positive potential. (b) Negative
potential.
decreased gradually with increasing distance
from the nozzle and T f at the flame tip of a
sooting flame was about 1100°C. Gomez et al.
[16] reported that soot nucleation occurs on the
centerline of a laminar diffusion flame and the
characteristic temperature of soot onset was
1077°C.
In the present experiment, it was confirmed
that the temperature of the sooting flame at the
tip of the flame in the absence of an applied
electric field (E ⫽ 0) was nearly equal to the
characteristic temperature of soot onset. The
363
flame surface temperature rose as the applied
voltage increased. In particular, at high voltages
above E ⫽ 10 kV, T f at the flame tip was about
1800°C, and the whole flame maintained the
high temperature above 1800°C. It was con-
cluded that the rise of flame temperature by
applying a positive potential caused the oxida-
tion of the soot particles formed in the flame.
As a result, more than 90% of soot emission was
suppressed at 200 kV/m of the intensity of
electric field.
On the other hand, when a negative potential
was applied to the nozzle electrode, the temper-
ature at the tip of flame was only slightly higher
than that for nonapplied electric field as shown
in Fig. 9b. Thus the T f values at the flame tip at
E ⫽ ⫺5 and ⫺10 kV were 1350 and 1600°C,
respectively. These temperatures were 200 ⬃
450°C lower than that for the positive poten-
tials. Nevertheless, the mechanism of soot con-
trol for negative potentials is thought to be as
follows. In the region of E ⬍ ⫺5 kV, the flame
length was similar to the case of no electric field
but the light intensity of the flame was lower
[17]. It is conjectured from the decrease of light
intensity of the flame that the soot nucleation in
the pyrolysis zone is suppressed. Also, at E ⬎
⫺5 kV, the flame is crushed because the ionic
wind blows from the ground electrode toward
the nozzle electrode. The combination of the
mechanism of the negative electric field and the
ionic wind forced soot particles to move toward
the nozzle electrode. It is considered that soot
particles moving toward the nozzle electrode or
soot particles deposited on the nozzle electrode
are burnt within the flame. As a result, a 70%
soot reduction was achieved for the negative
potential.
Next, to explain ionic wind for both cases of
positive or negative potential, the illustrations
are shown in Fig. 10. Payne and Weinberg [15]
reported theoretically the movement of flame
ions by an applied electric field and the forces
acting on flame gases due to ion movement.
They concluded that positive and negative ions
are formed in the reaction zones of flame. The
former are probably of carbon and the latter
electrons but, whatever their nature initially, the
mobility of the negative ion is greater than that
of the positive ion.
In the case of positive potentials (Fig. 10a), as
364
Fig. 10. Illustration of ionic wind.
a high voltage was applied to the nozzle elec-
trode, the electric field lines concentrate the
flame where ions are produced. Consequently,
the positive ions and soot particles are moved to
the ground electrode. As a result, an ionic wind
flows from the nozzle electrode toward the
opposite ground electrode. Since the flow direc-
tions of positive ions and soot particles are the
same as that of fuel gas flow, these ions and
carbon particles act to accelerate the gas flow
toward the opposite ground electrode because
positive ions and soot particles are larger than
the electrons. It is considered that the flame
surface temperature was raised by the ionic
Fig. 11. Variation in flow pattern around the flame with applied voltage (Acetylene, M f ⫽ 0.98 mg/s, h ⫽ 50 mm).
M. SAITO ET AL.
wind along the flame which enhanced the mix-
ing of the fuel gas and surrounding air.
On the other hand, in the case of negative
potentials (Fig. 10b), negative ions and elec-
trons are forced to the ground electrode. The
carbon particles and positive ions are conversely
moved toward the nozzle electrode. The direc-
tions of soot particles and positive ions become
opposed to the fuel gas flow. As a result, it is
thought that the soot particles that were moved
close to the nozzle electrode could be burned in
the flame because the base of flame had enough
oxygen to become a premixed flame as shown in
Fig. 4. However, the electric current which is
mainly carried by electrons was larger than that
of positive potential case, because the electrons
moved in the absence of the burned gas.
Visualization around a Flame in an Electric
Field
Figure 11 shows the variation of flow patterns
around the flame in an electric field. As is
evident from the photographs, in the absence of
an applied voltage (E ⫽ 0), the smoke moved
by natural convection. When 3 to 6 kV was
applied between electrodes, the flow of the
smoke was rectified like a laminar flow. As high
voltages larger than 9 kV were applied, turbu-
lence occurred in the postflame region. The
turbulence grew with increasing applied voltage.
In the case when high voltage was applied to a
flame, the flame itself acts as a needle electrode
because the flame has electroconductivity. In
such cases, the electric field of the nozzle elec-
CONTROL OF SOOT BY APPLYING ELECTRIC FIELD
Fig. 12. Relation between gas velocity at postflame and
electric field intensity.
trode was concentrated on the flame tip, and a
false nonuniform electric field (needle/ring elec-
trode) will be formed. In the case of nonuniform
electric fields, it is known that an ionic wind
blows from needle electrode toward opposite
plate electrode. Thus, it is considered that the
change in the flow pattern is caused by an ionic
wind due to the electric field.
Relation between Gas Velocity at Postflame
and Electric Field Intensity
In order to investigate the gas velocity caused by
ionic wind, photographs of sparks from a spar-
kler were taken using 35 mm camera with
shutter speed of 1/1000 seconds. The gas veloc-
ity was determined by the shutter speed and the
length of sparks trajectories. Figure 12 shows
the relation between gas velocity measured at
60 –75 mm from the nozzle and electric field
intensity. From the figure, the gas velocity in-
duced by ionic wind increased with increasing
applied voltage. Lawton and Weinberg [18]
reported that the maximum ionic wind velocity
was found to be 5.5 m/s. It was confirmed that
the ionic wind velocity was of the order of 1 to
4 m/s, and the ionic wind caused the tempera-
ture rise of the flame.
365
CONCLUSIONS
Control of the soot in acetylene diffusion flames
by applying electric fields was studied experi-
mentally. From the experimental results the
following conclusions were drawn:
1. When a positive voltage was applied to the
nozzle electrode, the tip of flame spread and
the flame length shortened with increasing
applied voltage. On the other hand, the
flame was crushed when a negative high
voltage above about E ⫽ 10 kV was applied
to the nozzle electrode.
2. The soot emission decreased with increasing
applied voltage, and the efficiency of soot
suppression exceeded 90% in the region of
intensity of electric field over F ⫽ 150 kV/m.
In contrast, the efficiency was limited around
70% in case of negative potential.
3. In the absence of an applied voltage (E ⫽
0), the flame temperature was about 1800°C
at the base of flame and 1100°C at the tip of
flame. On applying a positive voltage to the
flame, the flame temperature increased with
increasing applied voltage and the whole
flame maintained a high temperature above
1800°C at applied voltages above E ⫽ 10 kV.
In contrast, the flame temperatures with a
negative potential were 200 ⬃ 450°C lower
compared with that for positive potential.
4. The application of an electric field created an
ionic wind towards the ground electrode.
The ionic wind enhanced the mixing of the
fuel gas and surrounding gas, resulting in the
high temperature of the flame. It was
thought that the consequent increase in the
flame temperature for positive potentials
caused oxidation of soot particles produced
in the flame.
5. It was verified by visualizing the flow patterns
that a flow due to ionic wind formed around
the flame. The gas velocity in the postflame
increased in proportion to the electric field
intensity and was on the order of 1 to 4 m/s.
The authors express their thanks to Mr. Nori-
hiko Ueno for his assistance in conducting the
experiments.
366 M. SAITO ET AL.

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