Research & Development Opportunities in Energetics
The growing energy demands in the world motivate the search for efficient energy conversion methods and new energy sources. Advanced energy conversion methods for traditional feedstocks, such as coal gasification instead of burning, will be used more intensively in the nearest future. Alternative energy sources, such as photovoltaics, start playing important role in production of electric energy. However, additional investigations of these new processes and materials are required to make them compatible with the conventional energy infrastructure. Kintech Lab has deep expertise in the analysis and optimization of the efficiency of new energy conversion processes both for traditional sources and for alternative feedstocks, such as solar energy. The potential R&D applications in energetics are listed below.
R&D Applications
| Area | Activity |
|---|---|
| Low-cost photovoltaics | Mechanistic analysis of recombination losses and conversion efficiency in low-cost solar cell materials |
| High-performance photovoltaics | Improvement of conversion efficiency in solar cells using nanosize effects |
| Thermoelectric energy conversion | Advanced and nanostructured materials for improved thermoelectrics |
| Electric batteries | Thermodynamic analysis of electrochemical systems for electric energy storage |
| Plasma igniters | Extension combustion limits |
| Plasma conversion of fuels | Mechanism development for plasma-assisted conversion |
| Heavy fuels application | Mechanistic analysis of combustion characteristics |
| Advanced combustion engines | Kinetics of combustion at high P |
| Energy production by waste treatment | Heterogeneous (gas-waste) kinetics of syngas production |
Example:
Aviation kerosene combustion: multi-scale, first-principles-based generation and verification of kinetic mechanisms
