Research Fields
Principle and methodology of comprehensive cascaded utilization of energy; Mechanism of multi-energy hybridization and system integration; Efficient utilization of waste heat and low-carbon technologies
Team Building
The number of employees is 15 in the research team, including 9 professors, 1 associate professor, and 2 postdoctoral scholars. The lab also has 31 graduate students.
Projects and Major Achievements
In 2019, we were successfully awarded 9 national-level major science and technology projects and sub-projects, including 4 National Key Research and Development Program of China projects, 1 Strategic Priority Research Program, and 1 enterprise commissioned project.
In distributed energy system research direction, a novel hybrid skid-mounted equipment for cooling, dehumidification and marine aerosol removal driven by heat source was developed. This equipment could handle 6000m3/h air with the waste heat of diesel generator as the heat source and seawater as the cooling source, which was also integrated with magnesium seawater battery as the support power source. Through this technology, the primary energy utilization rate of the energy system could be upgraded from 35% to over 70%, and the temperature of the processed air could reached 18℃ with the relative humidity below 50% and salinity reduction rate over 70%.
The original technology of distributed energy supply with concentrated solar energy and supercritical CO2 mixture was developed. A power generation device through supercritical CO2 mixture was developed. The power generated by the cold experiment was up to 20kW and rotational speed was up to 50000r/min. The results verified the feasibility of power generation from supercritical CO2 mixture. Preliminary estimate suggests that the technology will reduce the cost of solar thermal power generation by more than 15%.
In solar thermochemical and thermal power generation system integration research direction, major progresses were achieved in concentrating photovoltaic/thermal hybridization and incorporate water-based chemical looping method for hydrogen production and separation. (1) A 2kWe hybrid power generation experimental system was originally developed, which integrated single-crystal Si photovoltaic cells, a two-stage parabolic trough concentrator, and amid-temperature solar thermochemical process of methanol decomposition. (2) To solve the technological problems of low efficiency and high energy consumption, in the hydrogen/syngas production by the solar thermal decomposition of water and the separation of hydrogen and oxygen, a dual-water-based chemical looping cycle method for hydrogen production was proposed which was driven by mid-temperature solar energy and natural gas.
Continuous and stable operation was realized of the high-performance multi-energy hybrid power generation technology. The world’s first 100 kW solar energy and clean fuel thermochemical hybrid power generation experimental platform realized the joint operation of solar thermochemistry and hydrogen-rich power generation for the first time, and achieved continuous operation of the hybrid system. The technical design and development of key devices were conducted of the Zhangjiakou 500 kW solar energy and clean fuel thermochemical hybrid power generation pilot plant. The solar thermochemical conversion efficiency is expected to exceed 60%, and the net solar-to-electric efficiency is expected to reach 20%-25%.
In greenhouse gas emission reduction direction, a new 30kWth staged coal gasification experimental platform was developed. Besides, taking staged coalgasification process as research object, exergy analysis was conducted to explain the energy saving mechanism by comparison of reaction decoupling and coupling, and the commonalities and characteristics of fuel chemical energy conversion were preliminarily obtained. The exergy analysis method was also carried out to study the commonalities and characteristics of coal gasification discipline. Based on the mechanism study of staged coal gasification with carbon and hydrogen decoupling on the TG (Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer), a 30kWth thermal equivalent Char-CO2 gasification experimental platform was built. The experimental research results preliminary verified that the cold gas efficiency of staged coal gasification technology excels over that of traditional Shell gasification by 4%–6%.
Technology Transfer
In 2019, a new cooperation agreement was signed with Jilin Hongri Renewable Energy Co., Ltd. to study the cascaded utilization technology of biomass energy.
Patents and Paper
In 2019, 42 academic papers were published, among which 27 were indexed by SCI and 7 indexed by EI. 15 patents applications were applied, and 8 invention patents were authorized.
Awards
The lab has long-term communication and cooperation relationship with research institutes and universities abroad. The research fellows attended international conferences at home and abroad, including 2019 ICAE in Sweden, the 2019 REM in China, and Solar PACES 2019 in Korea. Several members served as branch chairs for ICAE and REM 2019.
Several famous international scholars visited the lab and gave lectures in 2019, such as Prof. Christopher Wolverton from Northwestern University, Dr. Luca Cioccolanti and Dr. Carla De Carolis from University of Ancona, etc.
International Cooperation and Exchanges
The lab has long-term communication and cooperation relationship with the research institute and universities abroad..
The research fellows attended the top-level international conferences at home and abroad, including 2018 ICAE in HK, the 2018 REM in Greek, PRES 2018 in Czech, Solar PACES 2018 in Morocco, 2018 International Conference on Urban and Rural Energy and Environment in which Professor HAO Yong gave an invited speech, etc. Several members served as branch chairs for ICAE 2018.
Several foreign famous scholars visited the lab and gave lectures this year, such as Professor YAN Jinyue from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Professor ZHANG Zuomin from Georgia Institute of Technology, etc.
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Laboratory