30 credits - CFD simulations of platinum hydrogen catalyst with application in heavy-duty combustion

Background
Climate change mitigation is an absolute priority, requiring the evaluation of all the possible technology solutions with the potential to limit greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions in the heavy duty transport sector. Adapting conventional combustion engines to run on a carbon-free fuel like hydrogen will enable a drastic reduction of tailpipe CO2 via relatively limited technology modifications. Simulations allow for faster development and a deeper understanding of novel technologies that can help meet the climate goals of the future.

Target
This master thesis project is part of the investigation of a novel hydrogen combustion concepts for heavy-duty engine applications. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the use of platinum catalysts to primarily reduce the tail-pipe emissions of the engine during a cold start. Provided the NOx emissions are not affected drastically, the solution can be employed at normal engine operational loads to improve the auto-ignition of hydrogen and thus reducing the need of the diesel pilot as the combustion initiator. 3D CFD simulations will be performed to understand the chemical process of hydrogen-platinum surface reaction. This will in turn help to optimize the design of the catalyst to get a maximum hydrogen conversion at the provided engine condition.

Tasks

• Literature review on hydrogen platinum reactions to build understanding of the dynamics
• Perform channel flow simulations with surface reactions between hydrogen and platinum in order to understand modelling capabilities based on e.g. chemical mechanisms & turbulence models
• Studying the sensitivity of the hydrogen conversion to the geometrical (area ratio, length, surface roughness), fluid flow (velocity, temperature, massflow) and turbulence (intensity) parameters.
• Compare the CFD model of the catalyst under rig like conditions to available measurement data 
• Finding the catalysts optimum design based on maximum hydrogen conversion at different engine like conditions

The main goal of the thesis is to build understanding of the chemical processes in order to build the basis for further study of the possibility for applying the technology.

Start date: January-February 2025
Project duration: 20 weeks

Contact person and industrial supervisor: 
Darius Gohari, darius.gohari@scania.com
Micaela Labrador Aranguren, micaela.labrador.aranguren@scania.com 

Application
Your application should include CV, cover letter and academic transcripts.

A background check might be conducted for this position. We are conducting interviews continuously and may close the recruitment earlier than the date specified.