Development, Assessment and Simulation of Enabling Fuels for Naval Decarbonization
Abstract
The Department of the Navy, through its programs in the Office of Naval Research (ONR), desires to lead in discussion, research and,transition of ideas, measurements, materials, systems alignments, and technologies to reduce CO2 emissions from its ships and shore,installations without compromising capability. A critical aspect, but not the only aspect, of a systematic transition to net-zero CO,2 emissions for the Fleet, Marine Corps and supporting infrastructure requires the development and deployment of ?green? fuel altern,atives that are logistically compatible with the operations of a globally ranging force. It is important that these new fuels can b,are to develop effective tools to allow the U.S. Navy to make informed decisions on which emerging fuels are the most promising to p,air with and/or replace JP-8 for fleet decarbonization as well as to digitally design multiple classes of ships that run on alternat,ive fuels to JP-8 while having the fuel flexibility to operate on logistical fuel when needed. The project that is proposed here cr,eates the building blocks over a 3-year period to enable the above goals by exploring the underlying fundamental scientific and engi,neering aspects of the deployment of alternative fuels and their mixtures. This includes investigating the feasibility of producing, and distributing new fuels at sea. The studies in this program will be a combination of theoretical and physical experiments. Sim,ulations are supported with critical physical experiments that not only uncover the fundamental basis for operation, but also genera,te new data that informs, improves and therefore updates the simulations, creating a constantly evolving ?? learning loop. Research, activities are organized across four thrusts: Thrust I will harness Smart Ship Systems Design (S3D) software ? where UofSC has more, than two decades of ONR-supported development and delivery experience ? to create simulations of various fuel and electricity produ,cing component arrangements for representative classes of ships in representative operating modes. To do so, the capabilities of S3,D will be increased by building new components that are needed for ship operations on non-JP-8 fuels. This thrust will also investi,gate how these new fuels, and new fuel generating capabilities as a result of this project, impact the fuel supply chain and logisti,cs. Thrust II will investigate the generation of H2 from seawater using a new concept design. In addition to the device design and,ion exchange membranes. The H2 generated here could either be used directly for combustion or used to make ammonia. Thrust III foc,@##@00023@#,arrier of traditional Haber-Bosch synthesis. The first reactor type deploys membranes to selectively remove products during operati,on. The second is based on pressure-swing adsorption. This task will also use machine learning approaches to develop new catalysts, that will further drive reactor design. Thrust IV seeks to understand how the implementation of fuel alternatives to JP-8 (e.g. hyd,rogen and ammonia will impact power generation ? both in combustion devices and in solid oxide fuel cells. SOFC studies will focus,on materials chemistry and stability. Combustion studies will investigate combustor design, fuel oxidation kinetics and CFD simulat,ion of singular fuels as well as blends of those fuels with JP-8 (e.g. H2+JP-8, NH3+JP-8, NH3+H2+JP-8, etc.). The execution of the r,esearch and educational activities in this 3-year initial program uses the combined expertise of 12 faculty, 4 research staff, 8 gra,duate students and 10 undergraduates.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 08, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212742
Entities
People
- William E Mustain
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of South Carolina