Event Date/Time
Location
222 Bowen Hall
Series/Event Type
Current developments regarding the transformation of the energy system aim at more sustainable processes based increasingly on renewables. Nevertheless, established power generation, transportation, and industrial production processes rely substantially on combustion energy supplied by fossil fuels. Emission hazards, climate and health concerns, as well as announcements to phase out combustion engines warrant critical inspection. The end of the combustion era is easily declared – but is it (already) realistic?
With this background, the lecture will aim at giving food for discussion and partial answers to a future role of combustion-related research. With examples of our own and collaborative work, several areas in combustion chemistry will be highlighted. The chemical reactions that release the energy stored in the fuel influence its combustion characteristics and its fate towards undesirable emissions. Advanced spectroscopic and mass spectrometric methods permit to investigate the combustion chemistry in detail. Combustion models and their validation by experiments play important roles to link laboratory results to practical systems. Key issues discussed in the presentation include inspection of the reactions at low temperatures for conventional and alternative fuels and their mixtures and the formation of toxic species and soot emissions.
While combustion processes with a lower carbon signature and reduced emissions might rely on new approaches and alternative fuels, combustion science is not limited to understand the process of burning. Knowledge across techniques in a future energy perspective is desired, and many facets that have developed from the combustion energy community are useful building blocks in this context.