Fundamentals of Metal Particle Combustion in Extreme Environments for Power Generation and Energetic Applications

极端环境下发电和能源应用金属颗粒燃烧的基础知识

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05167
• 负责人: Frost, David
• 金额: $ 2.84万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=740425
• 关键词: Fundamentals; Metal; Particle; Combustion; Extreme

It is widely recognized that our society must transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change and enable a sustainable low-carbon society. What is needed is a technology to store large amounts of clean electricity, with the ability to transport this energy over large distances. Together with my colleagues and students at McGill, we have pioneered the novel concept of burning metal fuels with either air or water to power engines, steam turbines, or fuel cells, for power generation and to propel large vehicles. Metal fuels have a higher volumetric energy density than batteries or hydrogen, are safe to store and transport, and produce no carbon emissions during combustion. If the metal oxides produced are recycled back to the original metal with clean electricity, the complete sustainable energy cycle is carbon free. This provides an attractive opportunity for Canada, with our supply of clean energy and metal-processing industries, to reprocess oxides and export energy in the form of metal fuels in a future low-carbon economy. Developing a strong scientific foundation for the reaction of metal powders forms the motivation for the proposed research program. Our research has spurred worldwide interest in metal-fueled power generation systems. The key outstanding challenge to achieving this vision is the current lack of end-use devices that can efficiently convert the chemical energy within the metal powders directly into mechanical work and/or electricity. The present DG proposal will enable the design and testing of such energy conversion devices to extract the energy from the reaction of metal powders with air or water. We will also extend our previous fundamental work on metal combustion to more extreme pressure and temperature values to enhance the rate of combustion for high-power applications. The reaction of metal-water mixtures will be pushed into supercritical conditions where high rates of hydrogen production are expected. Using fine metal particles and a strong initiation source, we will determine minimum reaction times, extending our recent work that has shown that metal-water mixtures can react fast enough to be used as either a clean-burning propellant or explosive, producing pollution-free combustion products, which is attractive for deep mining applications, a significant contributor to the Canadian economy. My proposed research program provides a wealth of training opportunities for the development of HQP. The success of the research is dependent on the great students I have the pleasure to work with as well as the contributions of other members of my research team. The HQP will further their fundamental scientific knowledge as well as develop their engineering expertise to produce metal-fueled prototypes. The technical and communication skills they develop within our dynamic research group will allow them to thrive in any challenging work environment they enter after leaving McGill.

人们普遍认识到，我们的社会必须从化石燃料过渡到可再生能源，以减轻气候变化并实现可持续的低碳社会。需要的是一项技术，可以存储大量的清洁电力，并能够在大距离内运输这种能量。与我的同事和麦吉尔的学生一起，我们开创了新颖的概念，即用空气或水燃烧金属燃料，以发动发电，以发电并推动大型车辆。金属燃料的容量密度比电池或氢具有更高的容量，可以安全地存放和运输，并且在燃烧过程中没有产生碳排放。如果产生的金属氧化物被回收回到原始金属中，则完全可持续的能量循环无碳。这为加拿大提供了一个有吸引力的机会，我们的清洁能源和金属加工行业供应在未来的低碳经济中以金属燃料的形式重新加工氧化物和出口能量。为金属粉末的反应奠定了强大的科学基础，构成了拟议的研究计划的动机。 我们的研究激发了全球对金属燃料发电系统的兴趣。实现这一愿景的关键挑战是目前缺乏最终用途的设备，这些设备可以有效地将金属粉中的化学能直接转化为机械工作和/或电力。目前的DG提案将使这种能量转换设备的设计和测试能够从金属粉末与空气或水的反应中提取能量。我们还将将以前关于金属燃烧的基本工作扩展到更高的压力和温度值，以提高高功率应用的燃烧速率。金属水混合物的反应将被推到预期高氢生产速率的超临界条件下。我们将使用细金属颗粒和强有力的启动源，确定最小的反应时间，扩展我们最近的工作表明，金属水混合物可以足够快地反应，以用作清洁的燃烧推进剂或爆炸性，从而产生无污染的燃烧产品，这对深度挖矿的应用有吸引力，这是对加拿大加拿大经济的重要贡献。 我提出的研究计划为HQP的发展提供了大量的培训机会。这项研究的成功取决于我很高兴与之合作的伟大学生以及研究团队其他成员的贡献。 HQP将进一步促进他们的基本科学知识，并发展其工程专业知识以生产金属燃料的原型。他们在我们的动态研究小组中发展的技术和沟通技巧将使他们在离开麦吉尔后进入的任何具有挑战性的工作环境中蓬勃发展。