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"Catalytic Microreactors for Portable Power Generation" addresses a problem of high relevance and increased complexity in energy technology. This thesis outlines an investigation into catalytic and gas-phase combustion characteristics in channel-flow, platinum-coated microreactors. The emphasis of the study is on microreactor/microturbine concepts for portable power generation and the fuels of interest are methane and propane. The author carefully describes numerical and experimental techniques, providing a new insight into the complex interactions between chemical kinetics and molecular transport processes, as well as giving the first detailed report of hetero-/homogeneous chemical reaction mechanisms for catalytic propane combustion. The outcome of this work will be widely applied to the industrial design of micro- and mesoscale combustors.
List of contents
Nomenclature
Introduction
Experimental setup
Numerical models
Experimental and numerical investigation of the hetero /homogeneous combustion of lean propane/air mixtures over platinum
Experimental and numerical investigation of a propane fueled, catalytic, mesoscale combustor
Hetero /homogeneous combustion and stability maps in methane fueled catalytic microreactors
Stability of hetero /homogeneous combustion in propane and methane fueled catalytic microreactors: channel confinement and molecular transport effects
Numerical investigation on the start up of methane fueled, catalytic microreactors
Conclusions Summary - Outlook
Summary
"Catalytic Microreactors for Portable Power Generation” addresses a problem of high relevance and increased complexity in energy technology. This thesis outlines an investigation into catalytic and gas-phase combustion characteristics in channel-flow, platinum-coated microreactors. The emphasis of the study is on microreactor/microturbine concepts for portable power generation and the fuels of interest are methane and propane. The author carefully describes numerical and experimental techniques, providing a new insight into the complex interactions between chemical kinetics and molecular transport processes, as well as giving the first detailed report of hetero-/homogeneous chemical reaction mechanisms for catalytic propane combustion. The outcome of this work will be widely applied to the industrial design of micro- and mesoscale combustors.
