Masters

Because of the share of thermal power plants in the worldwide energy mix, the mitigation of the effect of
power generation on the emission of greenhouse gases is of timely importance. The use of “green” hydrogen as
a fuel is widely regarded as one of the impactful existing solutions to preserve the production of electricity in
the short-term. It is therefore the subject of combustion studies that evaluate the impact of hydrogen addition
on the fundamental combustion properties, such as burning velocity, pollutant formation or ignition delay.
In the high pressures and moderate temperatures representative of the auxiliaries of gas turbines, one must
ensure that adding hydrogen does not result in increased safety risks. The wide flammability limits, high
laminar burning velocity can indeed be problematic when flame conditions are created. To evaluate this
possibility, a collaborative study has been initiated between the PC2A laboratory and General Electric.
During this internship, the selected candidate will perform experiments using the ULille Rapid Compression
Machine to measure the ignition delays of blends of natural gas and hydrogen in well-controlled conditions
representative of the auxiliaries of gas turbines: high pressures, temperatures below 1000 K, and wide mixture
compositions ranging from very fuel-lean to highly fuel-rich. The obtained experimental results will be
compared to simulation results obtained using the state-of-the-art kinetic models from the literature, to
demonstrate which model is the most valid in such conditions, and propose improvements to such models.

Keywords: Hydrogen, natural gas, ignition delay times, combustion, gas turbines

Contact e-mail: guillaume.vanhove()univ-lille.fr

M2 Student: Luna Cartayrade

Volatile selenium compounds are released into the environment from both anthropogenic and natural sources. Gaseous selenium species detected in the atmosphere include dimethyl selenide, dimethyl diselenide, dimethyl selenone, and methaneselenol as well as inorganic volatile compounds (H2Se, Se and SeO2). In marine environments, DMSeX2 intermediates are likely to be reservoirs of molecular halogens in the atmosphere which will lead on photolysis to ozone depletion.

Molecular simulations will be performed to determine the thermochemical properties and kinetic parameters in both gaseous and aqueous phases for the reactions of photo-oxidants (OH, Cl, O3, …) with some selenium-containing species. The fate of the degradation products after the primary reaction could be also studied.

This project will also aim to contribute to a larger research program devoted to the study of atmospheric processes (Labex CaPPA, CPER Ecrin). The work will take place at PC2A laboratory, Lille University and will be supervised by Florent Louis et Nadine Borduas-Dedekind (Université de Colombie Britannique, Vancouver, Canada).

Keywords: Molecular simulations, atmosphere, selenium, reactivity

M2 student: ISSA Mohammad

Combustion process is the universal way to produce energy from fuels (>80% of the world’s primary energy supply is currently generated via combustion in flame burners, car engines, airplane engines, etc.). Biofuels are considered as promising sources for renewable energy production to reduce CO2 emissions. However, the presence of oxygen atoms in the chemical structure of biofuels complicates the reaction mechanism of oxygenated aromatics, e.g. oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These compounds are toxic, and together with soot particles, they can penetrate our respiratory system and trigger health problems. The formation mechanism of oxygenated aromatics will be explored in this internship. Concretely, the master student will first be trained in the use of the modelling tools necessary to achieve the project's objectives. In parallel, he/she will carry out bibliographical studies on the project's theme. Then, he/she will perform simulations on the formation/decomposition of oxygenated aromatics resulting from biofuel combustion using a kinetic model currently being developed in the laboratory. This can help us to validate the model using literature experimental data. These numerical simulations with complex chemistry will be carried out with the Chemkin-PRO software, under different reactor conditions (flow reactor, flame, etc.), temperature and pressure. The expected results will be used to analyse the chemistry of oxygenated aromatics and related non-oxygenated aromatics, which will provide a solid basis for developing a long-term proposal on the mechanism of soot formation in biofuel combustion.

This project will be supervised by Luc-Sy Tran and Abderrahman El Bakali, and will be suported by LabEx CaPPA.

Keywords: Biofuels, alternative fuels, kinetics, oxygenated aromatics, Chemkin-PRO.