In a related engine research project, isobaric combustion has been achieved at pressures up to 150 bar. This operation has demonstrated a significant efficiency improvement, particularly with gasoline-like fuels. This was achieved with multiple repetitive short injections.

High-pressure vessel in Soot lab 1 allows us to investigate flame at elevated pressures up to 30 bar, which is highly relevant to practical combustion processes.

KAUST is developing Cryogenic Carbon Capture technology in collaboration with Sustainable Energy Solutions LLC (USA) as a part of the Near Term Grand Challenge. Our technology can capture (remove) CO2 from the exhaust gases of a fossil power plant or an industrial plant (e.g., cement) or any process that releases CO2 in the exhaust.

The objective of this work is to realize a micro gas turbine (mGT) operating on ammonia-based fuel mixtures (or pure ammonia) as a demonstration of its potential as fuel to decarbonize the electrical power generation.

The studies conducted at the corrosion laboratory are focused on three main areas:

Hot corrosion Cold corrosion High temperature/pressure nitridation

Maritime transportation is projected to heavily rely on Heavy Fuel Oils (HFOs) in the following decades. However, HFOs have a substantial impact on the environment, mainly because of the high sulfur dioxide emissions. The new regulation IMO 2020 limits sulfur emissions, reduced from 3.5 to 0.5 % by weight. In this scenario, our group began a research project aimed to tackle the issue of sulfur emissions.

High temperature, high pressure, and high Reynolds number target flames are almost nonexistent in the literature. However, these flames closely mimic the real-life combustion process found in practical devices today.

Ammonia is a promising, but weakly reactive, carbon-free fuel and a promising hydrogen carrier for renewable energy.

​For the purpose of studying a pressure gain combustor in gas turbine relevant conditions, an acoustically modulated pulsed combustor has been developed. This combustor operates on the unsteady Humphrey thermodynamic cycle and has actively modulated fuel and air injection. The 40 cm pulsed combustor operates at 500 Hz and is coupled with an unsteady ejector to dampen ow oscillations that would decrease turbine performance.

Development of surrogates for Diesel Fuel using regression methodology with following target Properties:​H/C Density Derived Cetane Number Carbon Type Mole Fraction Distillation Curve

Gas turbine industry is eager to develop new combustion technologies to meet up with the government regulations on emissions Lean combustion systems – provide high efficiency and low emissions Lean combustion give rise to instabilities Instabilities can cause damage to the engines and sometimes catastrophic failure Experimental facility will help to understand high pressure combustion phenomena Very few high pressure experimental facilities have been build up but no experimental data has been published​

Advanced internal combustion engines require enhanced engine performance, improved fuel efficiency, and reduced exhaust emissions.Downsized boosted Gasoline Direction Injection (GDI) engines are a promising technology to achieve these goals. However, this technology is constrained by abnormal combustion phenomena, such as pre-ignition (i.e. super-knock).Pre-ignition leads to the limitation to engine downsizing, the decrease in engine efficiency, the initiation of super-knock, and the permanent damage of engine.​​

The work intends to build up on the existing library of turbulent flames as well as provide experimental data for numerical model validations. The burner is designed with very well-known boundary conditions and flow configurations.​

Laminar flame speed is a key parameter in engine design/performance, contains the information of reactivity/diffusivity/exothermicity, and serves as a good validation of kinetic mechanisms. Surrogate fuels are the alternative to gasoline in many combustion applications; there is lack of combustion characteristics, data, and performance in surrogates fuels

Soot is hazardous to human health, the environment, and combustion device performance. In order to better control it, we must understand how the high pressure environments it experiences in gas turbine and diesel engines affect its formation.

Soot morphology at high pressure​Relevance to practical systems Important in improving the previous codes Important for understanding soot formation, growth and oxidation​ ​