Thesis
The Energy Transition: Natural gas burners in brick kilns to hydrogen – a numerical study
Honours, Murdoch University
2022
Abstract
This thesis investigates the design of an experiment to test natural gas burners used in brick manufacturing to be subjected to different blends of hydrogen and natural gas. Exploring the necessary components, engineering design principles and structure needed through industry outreach, stakeholder engagement and consultation to validate a functional experiment. The analyse of the components and design of the experiment developed as part of this project showcases an in-depth experimental setup. Industries are seeing an energy transition from fossil fuels to more suitable solutions, such as hydrogen, and a gap is present in research on how best to transition the appliances used in industry to become ready to be used under this new fuel. This project validates an effective experiment to showcase such a method of analysis, working with Brickworks to detail how the burners and systems used at their Austral Bricks Cardup facility can be tested with hydrogen.
Components and their effective configurations are analysed by detailing the structure of the burner and combustion module, gas delivery and its controls and measuring apparatus that is necessary to effectively run an experiment on a natural gas burner with different blends of hydrogen. Furthermore, this thesis considers the potential impact of the combustion of hydrogen with natural gas, how it affects the systems used and identifies the emission reduction that follows the blends along with the potential effect of hydrogen embrittlement.
The experimental design created can be adapted to increase understanding of hydrogen's impact on downstream industrial processes along with their products. Whilst further work can be done to refine the experimental design and analyse, it provides an excellent basis for future academia and industry alike when analysing how to design and prepare projects to research how hydrogen could impact downstream end-use appliances using natural gas.
Details
- Title
- The Energy Transition: Natural gas burners in brick kilns to hydrogen – a numerical study
- Authors/Creators
- Mark D Ferron
- Contributors
- Linda Li (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Centre for Water, Energy and WasteMartin Anda (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Centre for Water, Energy and Waste
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Honours
- Identifiers
- 991005552967807891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; School of Engineering and Energy
- Resource Type
- Thesis
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