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: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=760175
• 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，以缓解气候变化，实现可持续的低碳社会。现在需要的是一种储存大量清洁电力的技术，能够将这些能量远距离输送。与我在McGill的同事和学生一起，我们率先提出了一种新的概念，即用空气或水燃烧金属燃料，为发动机、蒸汽轮机或燃料电池提供动力，用于发电和推动大型车辆。金属燃料具有比电池或氢更高的体积能量密度，储存和运输安全，在燃烧过程中不会产生碳排放。如果产生的金属氧化物以清洁的电力回收到原始金属中，那么整个可持续能源循环就是无碳的。这为加拿大提供了一个有吸引力的机会，因为我们拥有清洁能源和金属加工业，可以在未来的低碳经济中重新处理氧化物并以金属燃料的形式出口能源。为金属粉末的反应建立坚实的科学基础是提出研究计划的动机。我们的研究激发了全世界对金属燃料发电系统的兴趣。实现这一愿景的关键突出挑战是，目前缺乏能够有效地将金属粉末中的化学能直接转化为机械功和/或电力的最终使用设备。目前的DG建议将使这种能量转换装置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。我们还将把我们以前关于金属燃烧的基础工作扩展到更极端的压力和温度值，以提高大功率应用的燃烧速度。金属-水混合物的反应将被推进到超临界条件下，预计会产生高速率的氢气。使用细小的金属颗粒和强大的引发源，我们将确定最短的反应时间，这是我们最近的工作的扩展，该工作表明，金属-水混合物的反应速度足够快，可以用作清洁燃烧推进剂或炸药，产生无污染的燃烧产品，这对深度采矿应用具有吸引力，对加拿大经济的重要贡献。我提出的研究计划为HQP的发展提供了丰富的培训机会。这项研究的成功有赖于我有幸与之共事的优秀学生，以及我的研究团队其他成员的贡献。HQP将加深他们的基础科学知识，并发展他们的工程专业知识来生产金属燃料原型。他们在我们充满活力的研究小组中培养的技术和沟通技能将使他们能够在离开麦吉尔后进入的任何具有挑战性的工作环境中茁壮成长。