Design and Development of a Laser Diagnostic System for Ammonia and NOx Measurements in a Toroidal Jet Stirred Reactor at Atmospheric Pressure

The need for more sustainable fuel alternatives in the modern aircraft industry is growing. SAF is the current sustainable fuel in use, but still produces harmful carbon emissions. A promising alternative to SAF is ammonia, which produces zero carbon emissions. By decomposing ammonia (NH3) into its constituents of N2 and H2 using a chemical catalyst, a hydrogen-ammonia fuel mix is created. H2/NH3 mixtures still have the desired characteristic of burning without carbon emissions, but are less reactive than pure hydrogen. Additionally, ammonia is a widely used compound, so infrastructure already exists for production, transportation, and storage. One drawback of burning ammonia-hydrogen fuels is the combustion byproduct, nitrogen oxide (NOx), and unburned NH3. These emissions are both poisonous to humans and harmful to the environment. This work focuses on reducing total emissions from an H2/NH3 combustor. To measure these byproducts, a laser diagnostic system is designed and developed for a toroidal jet stirred reactor at atmospheric pressure. NO, NH3, and H2O species concentrations are measured for various ammonia-hydrogen mixtures using a toroidal jet stirred at atmospheric pressure for different fuel-air equivalence ratios.