CCRC Seminar - 28 February 2023

The talks are on:

Title: Regulation of NH3 combustion and NOX emission

Jiabiao Zou 

Postdoctoral Fellow

Abstract:  Alternative fuels are essential to enable the transition to a sustainable, environmentally friendly and carbon neutral energy supply in the future. As a carbon-free fuel, ammonia can be a suitable candidate fuel energy transportation and distribution Media. However, the low reactivity and strong NOx tendency limit the utilization of ammonia. The dual-fuel strategy must be attractive to promote ignition and flame propagation, hydrogen, syngas (mainly H2 and CO) and natural gas (mainly CH4) have been suggested as combustion promoters. The present work applied laser-based multi-species measurements and comprehensive kinetics modeling in NH3, NH3/H2, NH3/CO, NH3/CH4 systems and targeted at the kinetics information of the dual-fuel regulation strategy under ignition event. Furthermore, the de-NOx mechanism was explored in NH3 combustion with NO and N2O as oxidizer.

Bio: Jiabiao Zou is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Aamir Farooq's Research Group in the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2021 from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China. His doctoral work was Focused on the Low-T Oxidation Chemistry and Highly Oxygenated Molecules (HOMs) Formation Mechanism. And His Current Research Interests are Laser-based Multi-parameters Diagnostics and Their Application in Low-emission and High-efficiency Energy Conversion System.

Title: Local flame structure analysis in H2/N2-air bluff-body flames with multi-mode combustion characteristics

Hao Tang

Ph.D. Student

Abstract

In practical applications, bluff body combustors are widely used because they provide excellent turbulent mixing characteristics, improved flame stability, and ease of combustion control. In bluff body flames, the recirculation of combustion products and entrainment of air results in complex scenarios where non-premixed and premixed may co-exist and a numerical representation of local reaction zones by purely premixed or non-premixed flame structure may not hold. Here, we applied 1D Raman/Rayleigh/OH-LIF to turbulent non-premixed 3:1 H2/N2-air flames to analyze the overall flame structure, by examining radial profiles of temperature and mixture fraction, as well as scatter plots of temperature, H2, and OH versus mixture fraction. We observed the double OH peak in the downstream regions, representing non-premixed and premixed regimes by analyzing the local reaction structures. 

Bio:

Hao Tang received his bachelor’s degree in New energy science and engineering from Chongqing University in 2015. He obtained her master's degree in thermal and power engineering at Huazhong university of science and technology in 2018. Hao Tang joined KAUST as a PhD student in 2018 Fall, under the supervision of Professor Gaetano Magnotti. He is currently working on the development of advanced laser diagnostics on ammonia/hydrogen combustion and on the investigation of turbulence chemistry interaction in benchmark turbulent flames. 

Title: Ultrasonically-Enhanced Battery Recycling

Paolo Guida

Research Scientist

Abstract: Demand for high-performance rechargeable batteries had become ubiquitous in recent years. In particular, the EV sector is constantly expanding, and many car manufacturers have decided to go full-electric in the next few years. One of the limitations of this technology is the usage of rare metals that are expensive, polluting and require intensive mining. Recycling these materials is, therefore, necessary but only 3% is currently recycled as the process is costly and extremely complex. Among all the components of a battery, the most valuable materials are in the cathode. These materials can be recovered by hydro-metallurgic processes which are potentially green and less energy intensive compared to pyro-metallurgic processes. A limiting step in the hydro-metallurgic process is leaching which consists of the dissolution of the so-called black mass which is an aggregate of valuable metals OXIDE such as cobalt, lithium manganese, etc., depending on the initial cathode composition. Leaching is generally slow with TIME SCALE IN THE ORDER OF HOURS. before complete dissolution, this obviously results in large volumes and less appealing economics. We developed a new technology to accelerate the leaching step that allows reaching full conversion in minutes using a weak organic acid making the process more viable. The new technology adopts ultrasonically induced cavitation to accelerate the dissolution of particles in time and control the characteristic times of the process.

Bio: Paolo is a researcher in the group of Prof. William L. Roberts. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s at Politecnico of Milan in 2015 and 2017, both in chemical engineering. He obtained his PhD at KAUST in mechanical engineering in 2021.

Event Quick Information

Date
28 Feb, 2023
Time
04:00 PM - 05:30 PM