Australia has massive potential for renewable electricity generation that significantly exceeds our own needs. Embodying this energy in a chemical form such as ammonia (NH3) would enable its international trade, helping to decarbonise economies elsewhere. To convert the energy in such fuels back into electricity at the point of end use, large combined cycle gas turbines offer the most efficient option; however, their ability to burn ammonia needs to be improved, with the key outstanding issue being emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), a regulated pollutant. Much progress has been made using rich-lean staged combustion systems, where the fuel is burned first in a fuel-rich stage, which is followed by a fuel-lean stage. However, if any ammonia bypasses combustion in the first stage (ammonia slip), it will cause large emissions of NOx in the second stage.
In this project, you will evaluate one of two mechanisms of NH3 slip: flame extinction by interaction with a wall, or flame extinction by aerodynamic strain. Your evaluation will be carried out using two-dimensional, laminar direct numerical simulations, carried out with a highly scalable open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code (PeleLMeX) using high performance computing. Your task will be construct and analyse a series of simulations designed to understand the extinction mechanisms and the resulting ammonia slip.
Applicants for this project should be very strong in mathematics, physics, and engineering thermofluids, and ideally would have basic knowledge of chemistry and some scripting experience, though the last two are not strictly necessary.
School
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Research Area
Combustion | Renewable energy
Suitable for recognition of Work Integrated Learning (industrial training)?
No
- Research environment
- Expected outcomes
- Supervisory team
- Reference material/links
You will join a thriving, highly focused group working on using supercomputers to understand turbulent, chemically reacting flows in sustainable energy applications. You will be well supported by a PhD student and postdoc as well as the primary advisor. Additionally, you will join in social activities of the group.
- You will learn a lot about combustion, CFD, and high performance computing. The project outcomes will help unravel the mechanisms of ammonia slip, providing crucial information for industry in the design of improved rich-lean staged combustion systems, and ultimately an efficient way to burn renewable, zero-carbon fuels.
