We are pleased to host Dr Benedetta Franzelli delivering a talk for our group on "Turbulent Flames and Soot Formation: Overcoming one major barrier to emission reduction"

Abstract

Soot nanoparticles are the result of incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. These solid particles are emitted into the atmosphere by turbulent flames, which generally characterize industrial combustion systems. Even if decarbonization of industrial systems represents one of the most urgent scientific challenges for combustion, soot emission control is a top priority for hard-to-abate sectors such as aero-propulsion companies, electrical and heating power utilities, chemical and process industries, in reason of an envisaged use of biofuels or mixtures of carbon-containing renewable synthetic fuels with H₂ or NH₃.  In this context, high-fidelity CFD simulations are powerfull tools for the design of next-generation ‘zero emission’ combustion systems, but their use is today limited by the low accuracy of the obtained soot prediction, especially when considering turbulent flames. In this work, we will combine high-fidelity simulations and advanced optical diagnostics to understand the unsteady multi-scale processes that govern soot production and that make so difficult the numerical prediction of soot emission. Then, we will face the resultant challenges for predictive large-eddy simulations (LES) by proposing new paradigms for models validation when considering realistic combustors. Finally, perspectives on the use of hydrocarbons/ H₂ blends as a short-term solution to reduce pollutant emissions will be discussed.

Benedetta Franzell  is a Researcher of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the EM2C Laboratory (UPR288) at CentraleSupélec, Université ParisS-Saclay and a Visiting Research in the Creck Modeling Team at Politecnico di Milano. Her research interests are in theoretical, experimental, and numerical characterization of multi-phase turbulent reactive flows. At EM2C, she leads the investigation of soot and metal-oxides nano-particles production in turbulent flames using in-situ advanced optical diagnostics and high-fidelity CFD simulations. She graduated at Politecnico di Milano (2007) and received her PhD from Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (CERFACS, 2011). As a Postdoctoral Fellow, she worked at the EM2C Laboratory (2012, 2013) and at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford University (2014). She has been the recipient of a Stanford Center for Turbulence Research PostDoctoral Fellowship (2012), the Bernard Lewis Fellowship from the Combustion Institute 2014, the Bronze Medal from CNRS 2018 and a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant 2018.