San Antonio -- The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has received another boost toward top tier status. UTSA's College of Engineering has been awarded a $199,884, 24-month grant by the U.S. Department of Energy to study energy combustion.
"This is one of the first grants we have received at UTSA to study clean combustion, gasification and energy efficiency," said Efstathios Michaelides, mechanical engineering professor, department chair and the study's principal investigator. "Our research will directly affect the U.S. Department of Energy, but we suspect utilities will also be interested in our findings because they will have implications for the design of future energy plants."
Currently, the U.S. Department of Energy and their contractors use a computer code called Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges (MFIX) to describe the behavior of particles during combustion. MFIX calculations are general and all-inclusive, and they provide information about pressures, temperatures and reaction rates in boilers, gasifiers and Fluidized Bed Reactors (FBR), which represent the next generation of coal utilization equipment.
Using a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) code developed previously by Michaelides and his students, researchers will simulate the flow and interactions of particles with gases in reactors, gasifiers, etc. Their findings will allow them to deliver "boundary conditions" to the Department of Energy, variables that will improve the ease of computations and accuracy of the MFIX code. The improved code will lead to the development of more efficient reactors, which are designed to trap pollutants and other products of combustion.
Energy has been a significant focus for UTSA in the past year. In April 2008, the university began foundational work to form the Institute for Conventional, Alternative and Renewable Energy (ICARE), a consortium of industry, government and academic leaders to explore new directions, policies and best practices for the energy industry. The new institute is expected to debut in the late spring of this year.
The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Texas and the second largest of nine academic universities and six health institutions in the UT System. As a multicultural institution of access and excellence, UTSA aims to be a premier public research university providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
UTSA serves more than 28,400 students in 64 bachelor's, 46 master's and 21 doctoral degree programs in the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, Sciences and Graduate School. Founded in 1969, UTSA is an intellectual and creative resource center and a socioeconomic development catalyst for Texas and beyond.