• Energy Research

Lowering emissions from power generating gas turbines, while retaining efficiency and power output, constitutes a formidable task, both at fundamental and technical levels. Combined gas turbine cycles involving air humidification are particularly attractive, since they provide additional power with improved efficiency. Water or steam addition promotes the reduction of nitrogen oxides emissions, for both the premixed and non-premixed modes of operation. Consequently, there is an urgent need for thorough understanding of the combustion chemistry and flow-chemistry interaction under high pressure and high humidity conditions as well as simulating the turbulent flow field with realistic chemistry. Both objectives require the development of reduced kinetic mechanisms. Reduced mechanisms for methane combustion valid for high pressure and high humidity are developed here, using the CSP (computational singular perturbation) method. The effects of humidity and pressure on the dynamics of NO formation pathways are discussed. A reaction progress variable model for the simulation of turbulent combustion is also developed, valid for adiabatic, non-adiabatic, premixed as well as partly or non-premixed combustion of various fuels, including natural gas, hydrogen and syngas. The model utilizes the CSP methodology for accurate mapping of the pertinent thermochemical data on a set of two reaction progress variables. Preliminary results are displayed.

The composition and temperature dependence of the Raman spectra of molten LnI3-CsI (Ln = Ce, Dy, Ho) mixtures have been measured. Raman spectra of the polycrystalline compounds CeI3, DyI3, Cs3CeI6, Cs3DyI6 and Cs3Dy2I9 have also been measured from room temperature up to ∼ 750 ◦C, where melting occurs for most of these salts. The data are correlated to previous studies involving rare-earth chlorides and bromides and are discussed in terms of the melt structure and the structural systematics of the rare-earth iodide-alkali iodide molten mixtures

The purpose of this work was to assess the colloidal stability of novel milk-based formulations.Milk-based formulations were prepared in situ by adding into milk alkaline- or ethanolic-drug solutions containing an array of drugs namely; ketoprofen, tolfenamic acid, meloxicam, tenoxicam and nimesulide, mefenamic acid, cyclosporine A, danazol and clopidogrel besylate. The produced formulations were characterized by means of dynamic lightscattering, ζ-potential studies, atomic force microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy complemented with ab initio calculations and stability studies.The presence of the drugs did not induce significant changes in most cases to the particle size and ζ-potential values of the emulsions pointing to the colloidal stability of these formulations. Raman spectroscopy studies revealed interactions of the drugs and the milk at the intermolecular level. Complementary analysis with ab initio calculations confirmed the experimental observations obtained by Raman spectroscopy. Finally the produced drug containing alkaline/ethanolic solutions exhibited stability over a period of up to 12 months.The current data demonstrate that milk is a promising drug carrier.