PLENARY LECTURES

Hai WANG
Stanford University, USA

Detailed Kinetic Modeling of Complex Combustion Chemistry – What’s Next?

Hai Wang is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. His interests are in combustion, catalysis and nanoparticles. His current research focuses on theories and applications of combustion chemistry, carbon nanoparticles (soot), and nanoscale energy and momentum transfer. He is the author and coauthor of numerous recent papers in scholarly journals, including “Flame-formed carbon nanoparticles exhibit quantum dot behaviors” in PNAS, “Nanoparticles in dilute gases: Equivalence of momentum accommodation and surface adsorption” in Physical Review E, “Principle of large component number in multicomponent fuel combustion – a Monte Carlo study” in Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, “A physics-based approach to modeling real-fuel combustion chemistry. I. Evidence from experiments, and thermodynamic, chemical kinetic and statistical considerations” in Combustion and Flame, and “Combustion kinetic model uncertainty quantification, propagation and minimization” in Progress in Energy and Combustion Science.

Reinhold KNEER
RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Oxyflame – scientific achievements from fundamental research on solid oxyfuel combustion

Reinhold Kneer is Professor for Heat and Mass Transfer (WSA, https://www.wsa.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~gkct/WSA/?lidx=1 ) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of RWTH Aachen University. His research, covering mostly heat transfer aspects, ranges from spray investigations (high pressure spray primary break-up, nano-particle formation)  over medical applications (thermal-based implant removal and stem cell sprays) and contact heat transfer to solid fuel combustion. The latter is concentrating around a DFG funded CRC (CRC/TRR 129, see for example: http://www.oxyflame.de/events-media/mediathek.html ), where Prof. Kneer is the spokes person. In this CRC the fundamentals of oxy-fuel combustion of solid fuels, here especially biomass, are investigated. This CRC comprises 20 projects at 3 different universities (RWTH Aachen University, RU Bochum, TU Darmstadt). This research provides the scientific basis for further bio-energy carbon capture utilization and storage (BECCUS) applications.

Nabiha CHAUMEIX
ICARE CNRS-INSIS, France

Risk and Mitigation assessments of H2 explosions: towards a safer H2 society

Nabiha Chaumeix, the head of the “Shock Wave” group at ICARE, a full-body CNRS laboratory, has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering (University of Orléans, 1993) and has been a post-doc at CALTECH with prof. Joseph E. Shepherd. She is President of the Institute for the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems (IDERS), an international scientific society. She has more than 25 years of experience in flame dynamics and combustion chemical kinetics. The research developed by Dr Chaumeix is related to: (i) high temperature chemical kinetics using shock tubes and has devoted more than a decade in the study of soot formation from heavy fuels; (ii) the determination of the combustion fundamental properties such as flammability limits, laminar flame velocities, auto-ignition delay times, detonation characteristics (cell size, detonation speed, etc.) and the development of detailed chemical kinetics applicable to these phenomena; (iii) assessment of Safety explosion criteria with the detailed study of flame acceleration covering both subsonic and supersonic flames.

She is currently President of the Institute for the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems (IDERS)

Guillermo REIN
Imperial College London, UK

Smouldering Combustion in Science and Technology

Guillermo Rein is Professor of Fire Science at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial College London, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Fire Technology. His research is centred on heat transfer, combustion and fire. The purpose of his work is to reduce the worldwide burden of accidental fires and protect people, their property, and the environment. His research portfolio is ample, but over the last 20 years he is best known in three areas: 1) how polymers and wood ignite so we can avoid fires from starting; 2) how engineers can design better structures that resist fire; and 3) how wildfires spread and how to fight them. He leads the research group Imperial Hazelab which currently counts 15 fire researchers.

Maria ABIAN
University of Zaragoza, Spain

Sulfur and nitrogen gas-phase chemistry: its role in a new energetic approach

Associate professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and researcher at the Thermochemical Process Group (GPT) of the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A) of the University of Zaragoza (Spain).
Her research interests are in the fields of high temperature chemistry, chemical kinetic modeling, and formation and destruction of air pollutants (nitrogen oxides, sulfur compounds, …) in energetic and industrial processes/applications.
Since 2017, she is a researcher at the Thermochemical Process Group (GPT) of the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A) of the University of Zaragoza (Spain), performing fundamental studies related to the formation and destruction of main pollutants in thermo-chemical processes.