The use of green H2 and sustainable carburization to Fe3C for the direct reduction of iron ore pellets

Steel manufacturing is a carbon intensive process, that is responsible for approximately 7% of the total global CO2 emissions. Therefore, TATA Steel IJmuiden aims to lower its carbon emissions. One way to bring down emissions, is to replace the existing blast furnace (BF) CO reduction process with the H2-based direct reduction of iron ore (DRI)....

Modelling and sizing of post-processing equipment for wet hydrogen from alkaline electrolysis

The increasing adoption of hydrogen in industrial applications is driven by its potential to decarbonize various industries. Among the various methods of hydrogen production, water electrolysis is considered one of the environmentally friendliest options. However, hydrogen produced from water electrolysis contains impurities such as oxygen and...

Techno-Economics of Green Hydrogen: Production, Compression, Transportation and Storage

To comply with the Paris Agreement, the Dutch government has launched an energy transition process, with the goal of replacing coal and natural gas-based electricity with renewable sources. The intermittent nature of renewable electricity necessitates the installation of an energy storage system to balance supply and demand. Hydrogen is a...

Large-Scale Hydrogen Liquefaction: Process Modelling, Viability and Techno-economic Analysis

Hydrogen's competitiveness as a sustainable energy carrier depends greatly on its transportation and storage costs. Liquefying hydrogen for these purposes offers benefits like purity, versatility, and higher density. However, current industrial hydrogen liquefaction processes face efficiency and cost challenges, with a second-law efficiency...

Extraction with Crown Ethers: A Promising Approach for Lithium-ion Battery Recycling

Many of the high-performance portable electronics and electric vehicles (EVs) on the market depend on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) as their primary energy source. If millions of EVs are to be manufactured each year, rigorous resource management for EV battery manufacturing, as well as a material- and energy efficient 3R system (reduce, re-use,...

Quantum to Transport: Modeling Transport Properties of Aqueous Potassium Hydroxide by Machine Learning Molecular Force Fields from Quantum Mechanics

In this work, the added value of machine learning (ML) molecular force fields (FF) for the community of molecular simulations is showcased by successfully calculating transport properties of aqueous potassium hydroxide (KOH (aq)). Classical FFs use relatively simple interatomic potentials to simulate the nano scale. These simulations can predict...

Towards the next generation of 3D printing method for printing microfiltration membranes

Current membrane fabrication processes are not sustainable as they are energy-intensive and require hazardous solvents. Additive manufacturing, due to its low waste production and the absence of harmful chemicals, can provide a more sustainable membrane manufacturing process. Up to this point, there was no way to 3D-print a membrane that meets...

Multiscale reactor modelling of the influence of substituting natural gas with hydrogen in a direct reduced iron (DRI) plant

At the moment, Tata Steel emits 12.6 Mt CO2 per year while producing 7.2 Mt steel per year. To reduce these emissions, Tata Steel has decided to replace the blast furnaces with direct reduced iron (DRI) plants in combination with reducing electrical furnaces. The DRI plants will first operate with a 100% natural gas feed. Whenever green hydrogen...

Thermodynamic, Transport and Structural Properties of Deep Eutectic Solvent Mixtures Relevant to Capture and Conversion of CO2 to Value Added Products: A Molecular Dynamics Study

The current industrial application of carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is limited due to technological drawbacks such as high energy demand and environmental pollution. Ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are considered promising alternative solvents for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2). DESs are often...

Modelling Magnetocaloric Heat Pumps

Magnetocaloric heat pumps are those types of heat pumpswhich use a solidMagnetoCaloricMaterial (MCM) in place of a refrigerant to provide the work for the heat pump. MCMs are materials whose temperature changes on the application or removal of a magnetic field. This effect is known as the MagnetoCaloric Effect (MCE). Magnetocaloric heat pumps...

Thermal Energy Storage for District Heating: Feasibility assessment for the implementation of TES systems in various DHN cases

Of the global energy demand, 20% can be allocated to residential energy demand. Most of this energy is produced by fossil fuels, which raises the importance of energy production in a more sustainable way. In order to do this on the level of residential heating applications, the Dutch government aims to make its residential neighborhoods natural...

An experimental and computational study of CO2 absorption in aqueous solutions of tetraethylenepentamine

Capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere and subsequently using it to produce hydrocarbon fuels could help decrease mankind's reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate the risks of climate change. Zero Emission Fuels (ZEF) is developing a small-scale methanol plant, which utilizes atmospheric CO­2 and H2O vapor as feedstocks for renewable methanol...

Waste heat recovery from quenching towers

Steel plants are one of the largest sources of waste heat. Waste heat recovery throughout the steelmaking process is not a new phenomenon. One of the sources of waste heat is found in the coke plant. Cokes are an essential part of steel production. During the coking process hot cokes are cooled down. Most coke plants in the world traditionally...

Feasibility study of a heat pump assisted flower bulb drying system: An opportunity to bring sustainable energy solutions to the agriculture sector

In some countries, drying processes use up to 20% of the total energy consumption. Within the agriculture sector, drying of food and flowering products is a necessary step in production. A lot of companies make use of hot air dryers where the heat is gained by burning natural gas. A novel method is to use a heat pump assisted drying systems...

Fault Detection and Diagnosis of Industrial Heat Pumps of GEA B.V.

Heat pumps represent an effective technology to convert electrical energy to thermal energy through the expansion and compression of a refrigerant. Heat pumps are becoming increasingly more efficient which decreases energy consumption. However as heat pumps are getting increasingly more efficient, complexity is also increasing which leads to...

Packed Bed Condenser for Fresh Water Production: Study of a direct contact ocean thermal water production pilot-plant

To tackle the expected increase in fresh water shortage in the world, alternative water production methods are required. One such a possible method is Ocean Thermal Water Production (OTWP). This thesis continues on the innovative concept of the use of OTEC waste water as a cooling fluid for atmospheric water production introduced in previous...