Tirthankar MITRA

Supervisors: Pascale Desgroux, Nathalie Lamoureux,

Duration: 24 months, from March 2023

Funding: 100% PEPR MONTHY.

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In 2021, the French government launched a broad investment plan “France 2030”, in connection with the ecological transition. This plan aims to decarbonize French industry in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2030.  Hydrogen combustion is a promising energy source to reach the carbon neutrality in many applications, including transport, industrial processes and energy conversion. In particular, the French acceleration strategy on decarbonized hydrogen is supported by the Priority Research Program and Equipment (Programme et Equipements Prioritaires de Recherche) PEPR-H2 of the plan “France 2030”.

The MONTHY project is funded by PEPR-H2 for a period of 4 years. This project brings together three French laboratories internationally recognized for their research in combustion (CORIA, EM2C, PC2A) and allows the recruitment of several PhD and postdocs on fundamental research on H2 combustion.

The objectives of MONTHY project are to understand through a joined experimental and numerical analysis the nitrogen oxides formation in an environment representative of future hydrogen-air industrial combustion chambers. Results will lead to the first understanding and modeling of the impacts of H2 fuel dilution by H2O on NOx production in a turbulent reactive flow.

 

PC2A laboratory is offering an 18-24 month postdoc position, mainly experimental, on topics related to NO formation in laminar premixed H2/O2/N2 flames. Although the kinetic pathways responsible for the NO formation in hydrogen flames are known: thermal-NO at high temperature and NNH and N2O pathways occurring at intermediate temperature, the latter two pathways are affected by large uncertainties while having  a large contribution in turbulent flames. Thus, there is a crucial need to validate a detailed kinetic model for NO formation in a wide range of hydrogen flames.

By implementing an original experimental strategy based on advanced laser diagnostics to quantitatively detect radicals and atoms in hydrogen flames and on an optimal selection of flames allowing to emphasize one NO pathway over the others, the objective of this postdoc position is to contribute to the elucidation of the NOx formation pathways in hydrogen flames. The experimental work will  consist in acquiring a unique experimental quantitative database of NO formation in laminar H2-air flames using in-situ advanced laser diagnostics (laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS)) and probe sampling techniques (FTIR), detecting challenging trace species like NH and HNO to clarify the NNH-route of NO formation, and  finally assess the consistency of H2O dilution as a primary NOx reduction strategy for H2-air flames. LIF and CRDS techniques are already well mastered in the PC2A laboratory (https://pro.univ-lille.fr/nathalie-lamoureux/publications/#descr) but never applied in H2/O2/N2 premixed flames. Depending on the candidate profile, he/she can be involved in the kinetic simulation work to identify the formation pathways of NOx and N2O emissions.

 

 

Keywords: Combustion, Chemical kinetic, NOx emissions, Laser-based spectroscopic diagnostics

 

Academic requirements: PhD in the field of chemistry, chemistry-physics, and a strong aspiration to perform experimental work are required. Knowledge in the field of combustion chemistry and laser techniques are appreciated.

 

Laboratory: PC2A https://pc2a.univ-lille.fr/

Contact e-mail: pascale.desgroux[chez]univ-lille[point].frnathalie.lamoureux[chez]univ-lille[point].fr,