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Hyrum Smith Shumway III
Washington University in Saint Louis
Advisor: Richard Axelbaum
Abstract
Power generation is a vital part of modern society and is dominated by the combustion of fossil fuels. Recent concerns regarding rising atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions have led researchers to examine techniques to prevent the release of CO2 into the atmosphere from combustion processes by capturing the CO2 and storing it underground or deep in the ocean. The cost and difficulty of capturing CO2 from combustion exhaust can be greatly reduced if the CO2 concentration is high. This can be achieved via oxygen enhanced combustion. Oxygen enhanced combustion has also been shown to have a dramatic effect on soot formation and flame extinction even when flame temperature is held constant. Microgravity combustion studies are being performed to understand these effects under conditions that are not influenced by buoyancy. These studies are needed to understand the structural effects of oxygen enhanced combustion on the basic flame structure. The present study extends this work to investigate the effects of oxygen enhanced combustion on NO2 formation in methane flames. Normal gravity experiments are conducted to support the microgravity experiments.
Hyrun Shumway is presently attending Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, UT.
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