3. Research projects

Welcome to the page dedicated to the research projects of our department, which specializes in thermal science and combustion. Our work focuses on key issues such as optimizing buildings’ energy efficiency, improving gas turbines’ performance, and developing solutions for carbon capture and emissions reduction.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, our projects aim to address current energy challenges and anticipate those of tomorrow. Below is a selection of ongoing research, each contributing to technological innovation and the transition towards a sustainable energy future.

ACCURATE

 

Start and end year:

Sponsored by: FNRS – CR

BE-HyFE: Belgian Hydrogen Fundamental Expertise

BE-HyFE is a Belgian academic collaboration project, funded by the federal Energy Transition Fund, bringing together all Belgian knowledge institutes to join forces in fundamental research on the topic of hydrogen.

Hydrogen is currently experiencing a ‘momentum’, both politically and in the industry. Belgium has a lot of assets in the field of hydrogen: the largest hydrogen pipeline network in the world crosses our country, Belgium has a strategic position in Europe and many companies in Belgium have hydrogen technology in-house.

Additional academic fundamental research is crucial for providing solutions to the many technological and non-technological challenges posed by the role of hydrogen in our energy transition. At the different Belgian universities and knowledge institutions the expertise is highly specialized and outstanding. However, the research is fragmented and collaboration between the institutions (in the domain of hydrogen) is at this time rather limited, which is a missed opportunity.

With BE-HyFE, we want to strengthen the cooperation between the Belgian hydrogen research groups and, by additional fundamental research in hydrogen, stimulate an interdisciplinary approach to create an academic hydrogen backbone for the Belgian industry.

Start and end year: 2021 – 2026

Sponsored by: SPF Economie

CORRUGATE

Green hydrogen appears as a complementary solution to decarbonize the industry, transport, and storage in the future. Nevertheless, various problems arise for hydrogen combustion, such as flashback at a larger scale and intrinsic mechanisms at a smaller scale. The thermodiffusive (TD) combustion instabilities originate from the strong differential diffusion of hydrogen, leading to significant flame wrinkling, and strong irregular flame front corrugations. In addition, the flame structures created by such intrinsic instabilities lead to enhanced flame speed propagation and higher consumption speed, accelerating flashback apparition. The interaction of such TD instabilities with turbulence has yet to be accurately predicted using present-day combustion models. The overall goal of this project is thus to numerically characterize TD instabilities of lean premixed hydrogen flames in Gas Turbine conditions using high-fidelity simulations and fill the research gap on TD instabilities with turbulent flows.

Start and end year: 2024 – 2027

Sponsored by: F.R.S – FNRS

CRUCIAL_AEFmGT

The CRUCIAL_AEFmGT project aims to develop an e-fuelled mGT with an efficiency of 40% and a flexible heat/power ratio of 0.5 to 3, focusing on innovative cycles and specific components. The micro-gas turbine (mGT) is seen as a promising option for using pure hydrogen (H2) in small-scale cogeneration in a distributed energy system (DES). To improve electrical efficiency by up to 40% and enable decoupled production of heat and electricity, it is electricity, it is necessary to increase the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) or adopt cycle innovations.

Start and end year: 2023 – ????

Sponsored by: FEDER Funded by the European Union

FIT4MICRO

 

Start and end year:

Sponsored by: Horizon Europe – Research and Innovation Action

Funded by the European Union

FLEXC4GT

As renewable energy sources continue to play an increasingly dominant role, gas turbines remain a crucial solution for addressing the fluctuations inherent to renewable energy. However, to meet climate targets, the exhaust gases from these turbines must be treated to reduce CO2 emissions.
One of the most promising carbon capture technologies involves the use of amines, which becomes even more effective as the concentration of CO2 in the exhaust gases increases. A practical approach to enhancing this concentration is recirculating some exhaust gases from the turbine outlet to the compressor intake.
The key questions are: How much exhaust gas can be recirculated without compromising the system, and how can this recirculation be optimized to maximize efficiency?

Start and end year: 2023 – 2027

Sponsored by: FNRS – ASP

 

HYDROGENATE

This project aims thus to characterize the behavior of hydrogen combustion when shifting from classical to flameless mode. Additionally, the impact of hydrogen addition to a classical mGT combustion chamber will be assessed on the component itself and the cycle. Moreover, the effect of several measures to reduce hydrogen reactivity, e.g., exhaust gas recirculation and humidification, for flame stabilization, will also be assessed.

Start and end year: 2022 – 2026

Sponsored by: FNRS

ILES

Energy modeling of buildings and neighborhoods (evaluation of heating and cooling needs) using a simplified model (grey-box approach/RC model) to map the energy needs of buildings.

Start and end year: 2024 -2028

Sponsored by: FEDER-FTJ

Funded by the European Union

RESTORE

 

Start and end year:

Sponsored by: CET Partnership