Pyrene measurements in sooting low pressure methane flames by jet-cooled laser-induced fluorescence.

This paper presents in detail the study we carried out concerning the pyrene measurement by jet-cooled laser-induced fluorescence (JCLIF) in different sooting low pressure methane flames. The aim of this paper is both to demonstrate the potentialities of this technique for the measurement of such moderately sized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons under sooting flame conditions and to provide new experimental data for the understanding and the development of chemical models of the soot formation processes. Several concentration profiles of pyrene measured in different sooting flame (various pressure and equivalence ratio) are presented. The validation of the JCLIF method for pyrene measurements is explained in detail as well as the calibration procedure, based on the standard addition method, which has been implemented for the quantification of the concentration profiles. Sensitivity lower than 1 ppb was obtained for the measurement of this species under sooting flame conditions.