A series of three seminars on the topic of sustainable iron fuel:

Closing the metal fuel cycle

Research on the reduction process of iron-ore at the TU/e

The impact of climate change due to greenhouse gasses has been acknowledged and countries across the world are introducing policies to reduce these emissions. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy are used as an alternative to fossil fuels. However, these renewable sources with intermittency demands stable alternative: dense energy storage, like metal. Metals such as iron, are cheap and widely available, can be burnt with air to release its chemical energy. The thermal energy which is released during this process provides heat to high energy- and emission- intense industries. After combustion the generated iron oxides are captured and reduced back to iron. At Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) we investigate different methods to reduce combusted iron back to iron in an efficient way. An overview will be given of these activities undertaken at the TU/e and the reduction team spearheading these efforts will be introduced.

Biography: Nicole Stevens is a Doctoral Candidate at the Power and Flow group in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) under supervision of full professor Niels Deen and assistant professor Giulia Finotello. She researches the reduction of iron oxide as part of the metal fuel cycle and the potential of the whole cycle as renewable energy source.

Numerical modelling of single iron particle combustion

Iron powder is considered as a promising metal fuel since it is inherently carbon-free, recyclable, compact, cheap and widely available. To design and improve real-world iron-fuel burners, an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals underlying the combustion of single iron particles is required. Since iron burns in a heterogenous way, it was believed that no iron was lost through evaporation during the combustion process. However, our research has demonstrated that, despite the particle temperature remaining below its boiling point, a small but non-negligible mass loss occurs through evaporation. Furthermore, for iron particle combustion, it has been hypothesized that the oxidation rate of an iron droplet is the result of an interplay among three mechanisms: (1) External diffusion of O₂ from the ambient gas to particle surface, (2) surface chemisorption of, and (3) internal transport of Fe and O atoms. In this study, we explore these limiting mechanisms through the utilization of various numerical methodologies, including boundary-layer resolved models, point-particle models, and molecular dynamics simulations.

Biography: Leon Thijs obtained his BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in 2017. He obtained his MSc double degree in Mechanical Engineering (Power & Flow group) and Applied Physics (Fluids & Flow group) in 2020. Directly after graduation, Leon joined the Power and Flow group as a Doctoral Candidate in 2020. In this position, he is now working on model development of single metal particle combustion under the supervision of Prof. Philip de Goey, Prof. Jeroen van Oijen and Dr. XiaoCheng Mi. For his contribution to the 39^th International Symposium on Combustion he received the Distinguished Paper Award in the Solid Fuel Combustion Colloquium for the paper entitled “Resolved simulations of single iron particle combustion and the release of nano-particles”.

Application of Computational Thermodynamics to Materials Design and Process Optimization – High Temperature Thermochemistry Lab at Seoul National University

The research at the High Temperature Thermochemistry lab, Seoul National University, is mainly directed towards the development of critically evaluated thermodynamic databases for multicomponent, multiphase systems and their applications to metallurgical processes. These databases contain descriptions of thermodynamic properties of all phases within a target system. As a key developer of the well-known FactSage thermochemical software, the research group has developed comprehensive thermodynamic databases for oxide, oxyfluoride, and steel related to steel refining, refractories, continuous casting mold flux, and high alloy steels, as well as physical property databases for molten oxide and alloys derived from thermodynamic calculations. With these FactSage databases, complex chemical equilibria can be calculated for material and process design. Moreover, by combining thermodynamics and reliable kinetic expressions, process simulation models are developed for steelmaking units employing the so-called Effective Equilibrium Reaction Zone (EERZ) approach. In this seminar, an overview of these research activities will be given. 

Biography: Dr. Marie-Aline Van Ende is a Research Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Korea, since 2017, and, since 2023, a part-time Associate Professor at the department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. She obtained her bachelor and Master degrees in Chemical Engineering from Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She carried out a PhD study in Materials Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, and obtained her PhD degree in 2010. Until 2017, she worked as a Postdoc and Research Associate at the Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada. She has over 10 years of expertise in the development of thermodynamic databases for metallic and oxyfluoride systems for the computational thermodynamic software FactSage and in the development of industrial process simulations using FactSage.