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Combustion Technology:
Research, Development & Training
Transnational Access to Major Research Infrastructures
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Project listing- ENEL-Produzione, Pisa
Chemistry
Chlorine mobilization under thermal treatment of waste material for energy recovery. Read it.
Laboratory scale experimental study on Polynuclear Aromatic Compound (PAC) formation and destruction during coal pyrolysis and gasification. Read it.
Analysis and risk assessment of asbestos containing materials. Read it.
Characterization and re-use of oil combustion ashes. Read it.
Mechano-chemical inertization of industrial hazardous wastes. Read it.
Chemical characterisation of fuels, ash and deposits. Read it.
Industrial statistics: application of optimal design and correlation techniques to combustion experiments. Read it.
Modelling ash deposition during coal combustion. Read it.
Chlorine mobilization under thermal treatment of waste material for energy recovery
The utilization of low-quality and new fuels as primary or secondary fuels for energy production can generate new environmental or technological problems, owing to the presence in the fuel of elements that can originate toxic by-products or chemical species that can be dangerous for the the plant or the environment.
In particular, a relatively high content of chlorine in the fuel can produce consistent amount of HCl and, even a small fraction of the total, can provide the precursors for the formation, at trace level, of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) such as Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDD), Polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) or Polychlorinated biphenils (PCB) which can be emitted at the stack or with solid or liquid by-products of the thermal process. Some of these organic pollutants are considered very hazardous for the environment, even thought at trace levels, owing to their high specific toxicological potential, their persistency and cumulability in the biological materials and their capability to be assumed by human body through the food chain.
The present research proposal is addressed to get a better understanding of the conditions (process parameters and fuel quality) that can enhance or reduce the formation of these undesired combustion by-products in order to allow a better utilization of poor quality fuels and minimizing technological and environmental problems related to their uilization for energy production.
Chlorine mobilization during devolatilization processes will be investigated for fossil and new solid fuels.
Applied techniques: GC-FID/ECD, GC-MS, GC-AED, analytical pyrolysis
Laboratory scale experimental study on Polynuclear Aromatic Compound (PAC) formation and destruction during coal pyrolysis and gasification
The research activity aims to investigate the formation/destruction of trace organic pollutants under pyrolysis and gasification conditions from different types of solid fuels, particularly coals and poor fuels derived from waste materials.
Several classes of organic compounds can be generated during combustion under locally reducing conditions. Some of them, owing to their high specific toxicological potential, can represent a risk for the environment and human health. The production of these compounds can be significantly enhanced when undesired poor combustion efficiency conditions or techniques requiring fuel rich conditions (i.e. staged combustion for NOx reduction) are applied. The Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) represent a class of relevant environmental concern for several industrial combustion processes; their emission is regulated by laws imposing very stringent limits both on concentration in flue gases and emission factors.
Particular attention will be devoted in this study to identify and quantify compounds belonging to this class as well as other organic compounds, as Monocyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (MAC), and n-alkanes which can be considered as PAH precursors or intermediates.
This experimental investigation will provide basic data for the development of a simple kinetic model of PAH formation from solid fuel thermal treatment.
Applied techniques: The chemical characterisation of the species produced during the process will be performed by using analytical pyrolysis combined with gas chromatography and with mass spectrometry or other traditional GC detectors (Py-GC-MS, PY-GC-FID/ECD). The thermal tests will be carried out on a commercial apparatus (CDS Pyroprobe 1000) which was modelled and characterised in a previous work.
Analysis and risk assessment of asbestos containing materials (also for graduates in engineering)
- State-of-art concerning risk assessment and asbestos analysis (1 month).
- Training on main analytical techniques for quantitative determination of asbestos: XRD, FT-IR, SEM-EDS (4 months).
- Quality control and quality procedure for asbestos analytical laboratories (1 month).
Characterization and re-use of oil combustion ashes (also for graduates in engineering)
- State-of-art concerning: Characterization of oil combustion ashes.
- Re-use techniques of oil ashes.
- Vanadium, Nickel and Carbonium products recovery process (2 month).
- Chemical and physical oil ashes characterization, leaching tests, XRD and SEM analysis (2 months).
- First experimental tests of the recovery process (2 months).
Mechano-chemical inertization of industrial hazardous wastes (also for graduates in engineering)
State-of-art concerning waste treatment by mechanochemical processes. Selection of suitable wastes to be treated. Studies on the possibility of mechanosynthesis processes with industrial wastes (1 month).
Planning and predisposition of experimental activity: chemical and physical waste characterization, leaching tests, XRD and SEM analysis before and after mechanochemical treatment. Study of the efficiency and effectiveness of the process as function of time process (3 months).
Energy and emissions assessment, environmental impact evaluation of the process (2 months).
Chemical characterisation of fuels, ash and deposits
This activity consists of the following tasks:
- Sampling of fuels and ash on the experimental furnaces and power plants.
- Sampling of deposits, gases and fly ash during the combustion tests carried out at the experimental furnaces and power plants.
- Analysis in the lab.
The candidate will work with the chemical lab team in order to characterise the fuels and the ash produced during the combustion tests.
Industrial statistics: application of optimal design and correlation techniques to combustion experiments (also for graduates in engineering)
The approach to any process optimisation must use the Experimental Design Techniques (DOE) in order to reduce the spent time and to obtain a better result. Three main techniques are necessary for the process optimisation:
- Experimental design.
- Pattern recognition.
- Correlation in order to find the empirical relationships between the control parameters and the process responses.
The candidate by using these techniques will work on our projects. He will use the most common statistical software.
Modelling ash deposition during coal combustion (also for graduates in engineering)
The combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and fuel oil can lead to the formation of deposits on the convective zone of the boiler mainly constituted by inorganic combustion residues and unburnt carbonaceous matter which inhibits in such amount the heat exchange.
The deposition of solid ash particles in the convective boiler section (SH, RSH, ECO) is called «fouling» (to distinguish from «slagging» which corresponds to the deposition of fused ash) and can lead to a serious decrease of the boiler performances. The mechanism of such type of deposition can originate from different pathways such as impact, thermal diffusion, electrostatic deposition, vapour condensation.
The candidate will work on a mathematical model that will be used in order to evaluate the tendency of a fuel to form deposits.
Diagnosis, prevention and mitigation of environmentally relevant potential accidents in thermoelectric plants
Gas turbine combustion
Development of simplified kinetic models for the interpretation of experimental data on the formation of Polynuclear Aromatic Compounds (PAC) under pyrolytic conditions
Set-up and characterisation of a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor for the study of solid fuel thermal behaviour (coals, biomasses, refuse derived fuels, new fuels)
Development of Internet/Intranet application using html and Java
Combustion simulation in industrial advanced burners
Development of a mathematical model for the prediction of spray quality for a twin-fluid atomizer
Fluid-dynamic characterisation of burner and/or gas turbine combustors in isothermal conditions
Development and implementation of a model for the estimation of the fluid-dynamic behaviour of ash from pulverised coal combustion or gasification
Development and test of an active control system related to combustion instabilities in gas turbines
Experimental assessment of biomass pyrolysis
Externally fired combined cycles for integrative employment of low cost fuels
Integration of biomass pressurised gassification in combined cycles
Turbomachinery
- Development of a flame diagnostics system based on the use of a fast television camera for the detection of relevant species
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