All are welcome to attend the Special Seminar presented by Bihter Padak, PhD., Assistnat Professor, University of South Carolina, Department of Chemical Engineereing. The lecture takes place on Monday, September 22, 2014, from 1:00-1:45PM in MEB 3147.
“Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Electricity Generation from Fossil Fuels.”
Abstract:
Due to coal’s abundance and projected use in the near future, decreasing coal combustion’s environmental impacts are of great importance. Particularly, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel energy generation has gained great attention recently due to the concerns with global warming. Three main carbon capture strategies include oxy-fuel combustion, pre-combustion capture and post-combustion capture. In each process, harmful pollutants besides carbon dioxide, e.g. sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, trace metals and particulates, are released as a result of the combustion process. This talk will give an overview of our current investigations of pollutant formation during various combustion processes at a fundamental level combining bench-scale experiments, kinetic modeling and molecular modeling. The topics that will be discussed include 1) sulfur chemistry in oxy-coal combustion flue gas both in gas phase and on the fly ash surface; 2) nitrogen chemistry in gas turbines burning high hydrogen content fuels and 3) trace metal chemistry on novel selective catalytic reduction catalysts.
Short Biography:
Dr. Bihter Padak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of South Carolina and associated with the SmartState Center for Strategic Approaches to the Generation of Electricity (SAGE). As part of SAGE, her research focuses on combustion and emission control technologies, and aims to reduce the environmental impacts of generating electricity from fossil fuels. She received her PhD in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University in 2011. She also has Master’s from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Bachelor’s degree from Istanbul Technical University in Chemical Engineering.