Optical diagnostics to develop combustion and emission design tools for sustainable low-carbon fuels

加拿大致力于从化石燃料过渡到低碳经济，以减缓气候变化。这一能源转型的一个关键挑战是需要储存来自太阳能、风能和水电资源的可再生能源，以供离网应用使用，并在可变和间歇性发电系统无法满足需求时提供备用电力。麦吉尔大学的替代燃料实验室（AFL）正在研究解决这一技术差距的几种并行解决方案，包括使用氢、氨、沼气和铝等金属作为可回收燃料。 该RTI赠款申请用于我们的激光诊断测量中每天使用的两台摄像机和一个红外外腔二极管激光系统，该系统将集成到我们的层流火焰设施中，用于替代燃料的研究。第一个是具有全局快门功能的sCMOS相机，用于测量层流和湍流火焰中的速度场，使用粒子跟踪测速仪（PTV）或粒子图像测速仪（PIV），这对于了解不同燃料混合物的反应性变化及其对实际发动机中火焰稳定性的影响至关重要。第二个是增强的sCMOS相机（IsCMOS），它对紫外线（UV）波长敏感，我们用它来测量一氧化氮的空间分布，使用激光诱导荧光。这些测量使我们能够更好地了解一氧化氮污染物排放（NOx）如何取决于所使用的混合燃料。通过改变激发激光的波长，我们还使用UV-IsCMOS来测量温度分布。红外外腔二极管激光器可以探测感兴趣的替代燃料中存在的惰性物质的强振转跃迁：在废气再循环氢燃烧、湿生物质和铝-水反应产生的氢蒸汽的应用中发现的H2O;以及在生物衍生气体燃料中发现的CO2。红外激光系统可以提供惰性物质的浓度测量，以量化它们对反应性和污染物排放的影响，从而确定有希望的清洁燃料混合物，以加速能量转换。这些设备将在我们的研究中每天使用，每年约有7名HQP。 这些测量使我们能够验证和改进我们的工业合作伙伴在与西门子能源（氢气）和凤凰生物能源（合成气和氨）的三个合作项目中使用的燃烧化学工具，以及加拿大国家研究理事会的政府合作伙伴（沼气，合成气，氢气），以设计先进的，低排放的燃烧系统和发动机，可以使用低碳燃料。所需的设备将用于填补剩余空白的项目，以实现循环燃料的愿景。

Canada has committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy in order to mitigate climate change. A key challenge of this energy transition is the need to store renewable energy, from solar, wind and hydroelectric resources, for use in off-grid applications and to provide backup power for when the variable and intermittent power generation systems fall short of demand. The Alternative Fuels Laboratory (AFL) at McGill University is investigating several parallel solutions for addressing this technology gap, including using hydrogen, ammonia, biogas, and metals, such as aluminum, as recyclable fuels.    This RTI grant application is for two cameras used daily in our laser diagnostic measurements and one IR external cavity diode laser system, which will be integrated into our laminar flame facility for studies of alternative fuels. The first is a sCMOS camera with global shutter capability for measuring velocity fields in laminar and turbulent flames, using particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) or particle-image velocimetry (PIV), which are critical to understanding the changing reactivity of different fuel mixtures and their impact on flame stabilization in practical engines. The second is an intensified sCMOS camera (IsCMOS) that is sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths that we use to measure spatial profiles of nitric oxide using laser-induced fluorescence. These measurements enable us to improve our understanding of how nitric oxide pollutant emissions (NOx) depend on the fuel blend used. By varying the wavelength of the excitation laser, we also use the UV-IsCMOS to measure temperature profiles. The IR external cavity diode laser can probe the strong rovibrational transition of inert species present in the alternative fuels of interest: H2O found in applications with exhaust-gas recirculated hydrogen combustion, wet biomass, and hydrogen-steam generated from the aluminum-water reaction; and CO2 found in bio-derived gaseous fuels. The IR laser system can provide concentration measurements of the inert species to quantify their impact on reactivity and pollutant emissions to identify promising clean-fuel mixtures to accelerate the energy transition. The equipment will be used daily in our research by approximately 7 HQP per year.    These measurements enable us to validate and refine combustion chemistry tools used by our industrial partners within three collaborative projects with Siemens Energy (hydrogen) and Phoenix Biopower (syngas and ammonia), and government partners at the National Research Council of Canada (biogas, syngas, hydrogen) to design advanced, low-emissions combustion systems and engines that can operate on low-carbon fuels. The desired equipment will be used in projects to fill the remaining gaps to enable the vision for circular fuels.