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Alloy design for efficient combustion and reduction cycles of iron-based powders as sustainable energy carries

Applicant Dr.-Ing. Yan Ma
Subject Area Metallurgical, Thermal and Thermomechanical Treatment of Materials
Term since 2024
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550034449
 
Decarbonization of the energy sector is urgently required by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources to combat global warming. The metal energy carrier concept has been considered as a very promising approach to the storage and transport of renewable energy, due to its seasonal intermittency and geographic distribution. Particularly, iron powder has been proposed as a safe, easily storable and commonly traded fuel. Its combustion product (that is iron oxides) can be reduced again into iron powder through hydrogen-based direct reduction using renewable energy. Such combustion and reduction processes enable a net CO2-free energy cycle. The FIRE project aims at disentangling the correlation among alloying elements, microstructure and chemistry evolution, and reaction kinetics during combustion and hydrogen-based direct reduction cycles of iron-based powders, revealing the critical role of alloying elements in the redox cycles. Here, we propose a multiscale microstructure and chemical analysis approach to tackling these fundamental questions in a systematic manner. The FIRE project targets three objectives: (1) To develop a thermodynamics and kinetics-guided alloy design; (2) To study the effect of alloying elements on microstructure and chemistry evolution as well as reaction kinetics during combustion and reduction cycles; (3) To investigate the effect of alloying elements on the cycling of iron and iron oxide powders. Consequently, how alloying elements affect the redox cycles will be accessible to our community, providing a new alloy design strategy for sustainable metal fuels. The obtained comprehensive and fundamental knowledge will potentially enable deploying waste materials (such as oxide scales and machinery chips in steel production lines, and even mixed post-consumer scrap unsuited for other recycling processes) or fine ores containing gangue elements into future sustainable energy cycles.
DFG Programme Research Grants
International Connection Belgium
Cooperation Partner Professor Dr. Pascal Jacques
 
 

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