Recent News – Chemical Energy Conversion Laboratory

2021

The CECL team would like to welcome Dan Cornett to the team he is from – and we look forward to working with him.
Congratulations to Michael Sartini who defended his thesis on March 30^th, 2021, in the topic of “High Pressure Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium Measurements of Methane and Water Mixtures using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy”.
Congratulations to Jesse Schulthess who defended his thesis on March 23^rd, 2021, in the topic of “Reciprocating Compressor Lubrication – Lubricant Dilution with Natural Gas Species and the Impact on Lubrication Rates at Various Operating Conditions”.
CECL member presented his work at the 12th U.S. National Combustion Meeting in College Station, TX on May 24^th – 26^th, 2021.
1. “Influence of NOx Chemistry on the Prediction of Natural Gas End-Gas Autoignition “, D. Bestel, , D. Olsen , A. Marchese, and B. Windom

CECL members presented their work at the 38^th International Symposium on Combustion hosted by the Combustion Institute held online on January 24^th – 29^th, 2021.
1. “Investigation of the endgas autoignition process in natural gas engines and evaluation of the methane number index “, D. Bestel, S. Bayliff, B. Windom, D. Olsen, and A. Marchese
2. “Coupling effects of physical and chemical properties on jet fuel spray flame blowout”, R. Alsulami, S. Lucas, M. Hageman, M. Knadler, J.M. Quinlan, and B. Windom

CECL members presented their work at the SCI TECH Forum held online and hosted by Aerospace Research Central (ARC) on January 11^th– 15^th & 19^th – 21^st, 2021.
1. “Modeling Single-Channel and Dual-Channel Regenerative Cooling Systems for an Ethylene/Ethane/Nitrous Oxide Liquid Fuel Rocket Engine “, E. Browne, B. Windom, A. Marchese, J. Rasussen, and R. Zubrin
2. “Liquid Jet Fuel Property Impacts on Combustion Performance”, S. Lucas, R. Alsulami, and B. Windom

2020

CECL members presented work at the ASME Internal Combustion Engine Fall (ICEF) Conference meeting held online on November 4^th-6^th, 2020. The Powerhouse was silver sponsor.

1. “Controlled End Gas Auto Ignition With Exhaust Gas Recirculation on a Stoichiometric, Spark Ignited, Natural Gas Engine “, S. Bayliff, B. Windom, D. Olsen, D. Bestel, A. Marchese, J. Carlson, D. Chiera and G. Hampson
2. “Optimization and Simulation of a Cfr Engine Fueled by Dilute Anode Tail-Gas”, A. Balu, M. Valles, T. Bandhauer, R. Braun, S. Garland, D. Olsen, and B. Windom
3. “Homogeneous Ignition Delay, Flame Propagation Rate and End-Gas Autoignition Fraction Measurements of Natural Gas and Exhaust Gas Recirculation Blends in a Rapid Compression Machine”, J. Mohr, A. Marchese, D. Olsen, and B. Windom
4. “Multi-Dimensional Modeling of the CFR Engine for the Investigation of SI Natural Gas Combustion and Controlled End-Gas Autoignition “, D. Bestel, B. Windom, D. Olsen, S. Bayliff, A. Marchese, and H. Xu

Congratulations to Miguel Valles Castro who defended his thesis on October 28^th, 2020 in the topic of “Computer-Aided Engineering and Design of Internal Combustion Engines to Support Operation on Non-Traditional Fuels”.
Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Olsen, Dr. Anthony Marchese, and Dr. Bret Windom for receiving a $3.5 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to work on a propane retrofitted Diesel Engine along with Argonne National Laboratory and Cummins [https://engr.source.colostate.edu/propane-could-be-the-new-diesel-with-3-5-million-u-s-department-of-energy-grant/]
Congratulations to Dr. Todd Bandhauer, Dr. Dan Olsen, and Dr. Bret Windom for receiving a phase 2 on the High Efficiency, Low Cost & Robust Hybrid SOFC/IC Engine Power Generator project as apart of an Integrated ARPA-E
Congratulations to Elizabeth Browne who defended her thesis on June 11^th, 2020 in the topic of “Modeling Single-Channel and Dual-Channel Regenerative Cooling Systems for an Ethylene/Ethane/Nitrous Oxide Liquid Fuel Rocket Engine”.

2019

Congratulations to Dr. Radi Alsulami who defended his dissertation on November 5^th, 2019 in the topic of “Investigating the Role of Atomization on Flame Stability of Liquid Fuel in Spray Burner”.
CECL members presented work at the Western States Section Combustion Institute (WSSCI) fall technical meeting held in Albuquerque, NM on October 13-15, 2019

1. “3-D Modeling of the CFR Engine for the Investigation of Knock on Natural Gas”, D. Bestel, B. Windom, D. Olsen, S. Bayliff, and H. Xu
2. “Combustion Modelling and Simulation of Dilute Syngas Fuels in a CFR Engine”, G. Padhi, A. Balu, S. Garland, D. Olsen, and B. Windom
3. “Investigating the Role of Atomization on Flame Stability of Liquid Fuel in Spray Burner”, R. Alsulami, B. Windell, S. Nates, W. Wang, S. H. Won, and B. Windom
4. “Combustion and Droplet Behavior of JP-8 Surrogates in a Two-Phase Reacting Flow”, S. Lucas, R. Alsulami, B. Windell, S. Nates, W. Wang, S. H. Won, and B. Windom
Congratulations to Geet Padhi who defended his thesis on October 8th, 2019 in the topic of “Combustion Modelling and Simulation of Dilute Syngas Fuels in a CFR Engine”.

CECL members presented work at the 5th Annual Rocky Mountain Fluid Mechanics (RMFM) Research Symposium held at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO on July 29, 2019
1. “Computational Fluid Dynamics of a Heavy Hydrocarbon Direct Injected Unmanned Aerial Vehicle”, Valles, B. Windom, A. Marchese, and S. Bhoite
2. “Transient, High-Pressure Oil-gas Dilution Study”, J. Schulthess and B. Windom
3. “Combustion and Droplet Behavior of JP-8 Surrogates in a Two-Phase Reacting Flow”, S. Lucas, R. Alsulami, B. Windell, S. Nates, W. Wang, S. H. Won, and B. Windom

McKay Stoker recently published and presented his work: “Development and Validation of a CFD Simulation to Model Transient Flow Behavior in Automotive Refueling Systems“ in SAE Int. J. Fuels Lubr. and at the SAE World Congress. Congrats!

Diego Bestel gave his presentation on “3-D modeling of the CFR engine for the investigation of knock on natural gas. “

Brye Windell presented his research at the annual Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity (CURC) Showcase where he received The Powerhouse Award at the CURC Showcase. Well done!
Miguel Valles gained an honorable mention at the annual E-days senior design showcase for his MECH 498 Research Project. Well done!

CECL members presented work at the 11th US National Combustion Meeting held at the California Insitute of Technology in Pasadena, CA March 24-27, 2019
1. “3-D Modeling of the CFR Engine for the Investigation of Knock on Natural Gas”, D. Bestel, B. Windom, D. Olsen, S. Bayliff, and H. Xu
2. “Combustion Modelling and Simulation of Dilute Syngas Fuels in a CFR Engine”, G. Padhi, A. Balu, S. Garland, D. Olsen, and B. Windom
3. “Investigating the Role of Atomization on Flame Stability of Liquid Fuel in Spray Burner”, R. Alsulami, B. Windell, S. Nates, W. Wang, S. H. Won, and B. Windom

Congrats to Radi Alsulami for his art award at the 11th US National Combustion Meeting.

“Face of Carbon“

2018

Congrats to the CSU Engines and Energy Conversion Lab (EECL) and CECL for a recent $1.2 million grant from DOE to improve natural gas engine efficiency.
Congrats to Colorado School of Mines and CSU on recent award from ARPA-e to develop a high-efficiency hybrid fuel cell IC engine distributed generation system
CECL presented work at the Western States Section of the Combustion Institute Spring Meeting held at Oregon State University Bend, OR campus
- Investigation on the role of phase change of a liquid fuel spray
  on the flame stability and behavior, R.A. Alsulami, A. Jadhav, B. Windell, B.C. Windom
Thanks to Aggies Off Road and the CSU SAE Baja team for hosting the SAE sponsored Engine tear-down event. Thanks to Honda R&D for donating the engines and their engineers for the wonderful lesson about Honda engine technology!
PhD candidate Radi Alsulami presented a paper at the AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando, FL:
- Radi A. Alsulami, Brye Windell, Danielle Bartholet, and Bret Windom. “Exploring the Role of Physical and Chemical Properties on the Ignition and Flame Stability of Liquid Fuels with a Spray Burner and Fuel Ignition Tester (FIT)”, 2018 AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA SciTech Forum, (AIAA 2018-0673) https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-0673

2017

CECL had three oral presentations at the recent Western States Section of the Combustion Institute Fall Meeting held at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY October 1-3, 2017
1. “Global diffusion flame extinction strain rate experiments of single large hydrocarbon fuels”, A. Jadhav, R. Alsulami, B.C. Windom
2. “Investigation of non-ideal gasoline ethanol vaporization behavior using an ethanol, cyclohexane, and benzene surrogate”, S. Burke, M. Ratcliff, R. McCormick, D. Bartholet, B. Windom
3. “The effect of spray burner outlet configuration, nozzle position and nozzle type on the flame behavior and stability of liquid fuels”, R.A. Alsulami, B. Windell, B.C. Windom
Congrats to Danielle Bartholet, a fellow Gator who recently completed a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) internship in CECL. In only ten weeks she accomplished quite a bit as demonstrated by her REU poster presentation.
Congrats to Colin Gould and Radi Alsulami for their art award at the 10th US National Combustion Meeting.

“Evanescing Flame”

CECL members presented work at the 10th US National Combustion Meeting at the University of Maryland, April 23-26, 2017:
1. “UNIFAC-based approach to gasoline droplet evaporation and the role of oxygenates on PM precursor vaporization”, S. Burke, M. Ratcliff, R. McCormick, R. Rhoads, B. Windom
2. “The effective regenerative flame stability for liquid hydrocarbon fuels”, Alsulami, C. Curtis, T. Bruno, B. Windom
3. “Linking evaporation and liquid-vapor equilibrium to flame dynamics of real fuels”, R. Alsulami, C. Belknap, B. Windom
Stephen Burke recently published and presented his work: “Distillation-based Droplet Modeling of Non-Ideal Oxygenated Gasoline Blends: Investigating the Role of Droplet Evaporation on PM Emissions“in SAE J. Fuels Lubr. and at the SAE World Congress. Congrats!
The Honda sponsored senior design team gained an honorable mention at the annual E-days senior design showcase. Well done team!
Carson Belknap presented his research at the annual Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity (CURC) Showcase. The team’s work lead to an overall High Honors Award and a 2nd Place for Excellence in Energy award at the CURC Showcase. Well done!