The Clean Combustion Research Center was honored to host the 7th Annual Meeting of the Saudi Arabian Section of Combustion Institute​​. More than 150 combustion researchers from all over Saudi Arabia and the surrounding regions came in to KAUST to discuss all matters related to combustion science.

The Clean Combustion Research Center was honored to have Prof. Jonas Moeck working in our labs, in collaboration with Prof. Deanna Lacoste and her team of researchers on thermo-acoustic instabilities and flame dynamics this month.

Representatives from the Clean Combustion Research Center visited Saudi Aramco's Fuel Technology, Research and Development Division (FTR &DD) to review the progress of their collaborative project 'FUELCOM' on 15 and 16 March, 2017.

The characterization of compounds produced in combustion could lead to cleaner, more efficient power stations. Modeling the combustion of fossil fuels by KAUST researchers has helped to characterize some of the components of methane, laying the foundations for greener power generation. In energy production, incomplete combustion of fossil fuels like natural gas causes the release of air pollutants such as soot, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, which are harmful to our health and the environment. Applying an external electrical field to control the combustion process is known to reduce the formation of these pollutants, but the mechanism for this is not fully understood.

New technique lays the foundation for greener transport fuels and next generation engines. Reducing the greenhouse gases (GHG) released from the production and burning of fuels like diesel and gasoline — significant contributors to climate change — is a huge challenge facing the transportation industry. Aamir Farooq and colleagues from KAUST’s Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC), working with the Fuel Technology Team at Saudi Aramco, used an innovative technique for testing the properties of light naphtha, a fully blended, low-octane, highly paraffinic fuel. Farooq explains that this technique could open the potential for more advanced engines to run on fuels that release fewer GHG emissions.

The Clean Combustion Research Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Deanna Lacoste has been appointed as Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, effective from November 1, 2016. Dr. Lacoste has been an important member of the CCRC since 2014 when she joined as a Research Scientist. During this period, her research work was mainly on plasma-assisted combustion, optical diagnostics, and control of thermoacoustic instabilities. Prof. Lacoste will now focus her studies on plasma-assisted detonation, control of thermoacoustic instabilities at high pressure, and control of flame extinction and ignition by surfaces.

The Clean Combustion Research Center is very pleased to announce the appointment of yet another exemplary faculty - Prof. Gaetano Magnotti. He joined the Mechanical Engineering program as an Assistant Professor on the 28th of October. Prof. Magnotti’s primary research interests are in developing and applying advanced laser diagnostics and imaging to turbulent and supersonic combustion. He is the principal investigator of the Advanced Diagnostics laboratory and he is affiliated with the Clean Combustion Research Center. Professor Magnotti’s group focuses on the development of quantitative, advanced laser diagnostics for high pressure combustion and on their application to the investigation of fundamental combustion phenomena relevant to the design of next-generation, cleaner, and more efficient gas turbines and IC engines.

​CCRC PhD Student, Nour Atef won the first place at the poster competition held as part of the 24th International Symposium on Gas Kinetics and Related Phenomena held at the University of York between 17 to 21July. Her poster which was selected from more than a 100 entries presented her work on understanding gasoline fuel combustion using a combination of experiments and computational simulations. She is currently a PhD student in the Chemical and Biological and Engineering Program under Prof. Mani Sarathy's Combustion and Pyrolysis Chemistry Group.

A clearer understanding of how flame is affected by electric fields paves the way for advanced electrically assisted combustion technology. Flame is a complex and dynamic phenomenon involving a constant flow of negatively and positively charged ions and electrons. For decades, researchers have attempted to exploit this charged property to control and stabilize flame, theoretically leading to lower emissions and more complete energy utilization. Applying an electric field that interacts with the charged particles is the most obvious means of achieving this type of flame control, but this approach has met with mixed success.

A better understanding of fuel ignition processes in internal combustion engines could help break new barriers in fuel efficiency and emission reductions. A third oxidation mechanism has been added to the model of hydrocarbon auto-ignition to fill a longstanding gap in what we know about ignition delay in internal combustion engines. The new model of auto-ignition developed at KAUST is expected to help engine designers to refine engine timing to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. The combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in a spark-ignition engine does not happen instantaneously. The fuel burns over the course of milliseconds, involving various oxygen-consuming reactions triggered by heat, pressure and the spark source.

A complex computational model provides a more accurate description of soot formation. ​A computational framework that accurately predicts the formation of particulates and soot when burning hydrocarbon fuels has been developed by researchers at KAUST and an international research team. The model takes into account the crucial contributions of larger hydrocarbon molecules. “These have often been neglected in previous studies,” said Hong Im from the KAUST Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC). He noted that consideration of these molecules is essential for accurate prediction of soot levels.

Precise rate constants could provide high-fidelity combustion models for cleaner and more efficient fuels.​ The performance of future engines could soon be predicted with greater accuracy thanks to research by KAUST scientists to find high-efficiency and low-emission solutions in the fight against climate change. Engine design and optimization depend on combustion chemistry models consisting of multiple elementary reactions. In particular, reactions between hydrocarbons and hydroxyl (OH) radicals play a central role in the breakup of fuel components during combustion.

Experimental and numerical studies reveal the combustion properties of blended fuels at elevated pressures.

Chemical reaction modeling and combustion experiments reveal how 2-methylbutanol would behave in advanced engines.

An improved formula for a gasoline additive has been developed by researchers from KAUST and oil company Saudi Aramco. The new mixture of butanol additives reduces engine knocking, a major obstacle to improved engine performance

The Clean Combustion Research Center is pleased to announce that Dr. Min Suk Cha has been hired as Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering, effective from November 1, 2015.

Simulations reveal the final moments of a fuel droplet as it combusts in a spray injection engine.

The rising costs of natural gases continue to prompt governments and industry to seek lower cost fuel alternatives. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for instance, is consuming an increasingly large portion of its own fossil fuels on energy requirements such as air conditioning and water.

The Cloudflame database is comprised of relevant scientific records published over a large span of time, which helps researchers compare their findings against eminent scholars with great ease.

Alternative fuels from traditional or non-traditional sources have a promising future in the transportation industry. Amongst these are alcohol fuels that contain anywhere from one to five or more carbon atoms. Dr. Mani Sarathy explains how they are considered promising as they can be produced by various methods, including both renewable and fossil based feedstocks.