Some recent advances in the gasification of multicomponent and reactive fuel droplets

Recent advances in the understanding and quantification of the gasification mechanisms of vaporizing and burning multicomponent and reactive fuel droplets are reviewed for four specific classes of fuels, namely (1) the light alcohols of methanol and ethanol for which condensation of water vapor from the ambience and the droplet envelop flame onto the droplet surface is inherently present; (2) azeotropic mixtures which exhibit volatility reversal with changing liquid composition; (3) chlorinated hydrocarbons which can be successfully incinerated as hazardous chemical wastes through rational blending; and (4) organic diazides whose overall gasification rates are significantly faster than the conventional jet fuels because of liquid-phase reactions.