Development of porous burner reactors

Summary

The project involves a laboratory experimental study to examine the mechanisms of ultra-lean combustion, coupled with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and kinetic modelling study to investigate scale-up parameters.

Supervisor(s)

Professor Andrew Harris

Research Location

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Program Type

N/A

Synopsis

Coal mine ventilation air (MVA) emissions are characterised by very low methane concentrations (typically less than 1%), high flow rates (up to 1900 m3/s) and significant short and long term fluctuations in both concentration and flow.  These attributes constitute the major technical barriers to the capture and use of the methane in MVA.  A cost effective method of MVA mitigation, which does not require either a supplementary fuel source or a large-scale infrastructure for power generation, has yet to be proven.To address this challenge the Laboratory for Sustainable Technology is developing a novel porous burner reactor using advanced computational modelling techniques. Porous burners have the ability to burn lean fuel/air mixtures, and it has additionally been shown that the combustion process is stable against changes in fuel concentration and flow rate.

Keywords

greenhouse gas; porous burner; computational fluid dynamic modelling; sustainability; Advanced greenhouse gas mitigation technologies

Opportunity ID

The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is: 354

Other opportunities with Professor Andrew Harris

• In situ functionalisation of carbon nanotubes
• Synthesis of single walled nanotubes in fluidised beds
• Spiral CNT synthesis in fluidised beds
• Nanotube purification
• Development of tailored catalysts for CNT synthesis
• Process intensification of fluidised bed reactors
• Biological factories for nanoparticle synthesis
• Assessing the feasibility of phytomining in Australia
• Hydrogen production from biomass and waste fuels
• Development of advanced materials for porous burner reactors
• Designing tailored nanomaterials for CO2 capture
• Novel, nanoporous silicon carbide nanomaterials
• Biologically templated nanomaterials
• Mimicking the Stenocara beetle hydrophilic/hydrophobic surfaces
• Fuels and chemicals from biomass