A Synchrotron Photoionization Investigation of the Model Biofuel Dimethoxymethane

Combustion is an often oversimplified process that in reality can encompass hundreds to thousands of fast, complex chemical reactions. Improving fuel efficiency, mitigating pollution, and implementing sustainably sourced fuels is of great societal interest in the effort to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Progress in rational fuel design necessitates detailed understanding of the web of gas phase reaction mechanisms that link molecular structure to fuel behavior. In this project, the first steps in the low temperature oxidation of a model biofuel candidate, dimethoxymethane, are studied first through experiments conducted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source using VUV Synchrotron Radiation Multiplexed Photoionization Mass Spectrometry and then aided by theoretical computations performed on USF's supercomputer. Results of this study will "fuel" kinetic modeling efforts enabling the prediction of the combustion of longer chain, and therefore more practical, polyoxymethylene ethers.