Overview
I am a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University and Director of the School of Engineering's Gas Turbine Research Centre. My research focusses on the development and characterisation of alternative fuels for transport and power applications.
My PhD was attained through an EPSRC-funded project to evaluate an energy intensive site and determine if centralised electricity generation and steam distribution is preferable to local consumption of waste heat and by-product fuels.
Within Cardiff’s Centre for Research into Energy, Waste and the Environment, my contemporary work encompasses fundamental aspects of combustion within decarbonised fuel energy systems, and minimising the production of harmful emissions. I have experience with a range of energy transfer applications including carbon-free fuels such as H2 and NH3, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), waste by-product fuels, and Aerospace applications.
I have contributed research to projects funded by EPSRC, Innovate UK, WEFO, and BEIS, enabled through the development of experimental facilities and advanced diagnostics at the Gas Turbine Research Centre. This has resulted in me receiving the 2020 Hinshelwood prize for meritorious work in the field of combustion.
Research
I undertake research into the development and characterisation of alternative fuels for transport and power generation, encompassing fundamental aspects of combustion within energy systems, and minimising the production of harmful emissions.
This is enabled through the continued development of experimental facilities at Cardiff’s Gas Turbine Research Centre (GTRC).
Projects
I have contributed to the following projects:
Evaluation of a large energy intensive site to determine if centralised electricity generation and steam distribution is preferable to local generation | EPSRC | 01/10/2009 - 31/03/2013 |
H2-IGCC Low Emission Gas Turbine Technology for Hydrogen-rich Syngas | European Commission (FP7) | 01/11/2009 - 31/12/2013 |
BP acetic acid burning | BP Amoco Chemical Company | 01/02/2012 - 31/08/2013 |
BRISK- The European Research Infrastructure for Thermochemical Biomass Conversion | European Commission (FP7) | 01/10/2011 - 30/09/2015 |
Flexible and Efficient Power Plant: Flex-E-Plant | EPSRC via Loughborough | 01/03/2013 - 30/09/2017 |
Selective exhaust gas recirculation for carbon capture with gas turbines | EPSRC | 01/10/2014 - 30/09/2017 |
Decoupled Green Energy Supply | TSB (Innovate UK) | 01/01/2015 - 31/12/2017 |
Advanced gas turbine cycles for high efficiency and sustainable future conventional generation | EPSRC via Imperial College London | 01/04/2015 - 31/03/2018 |
FLEXIS (Flexible Integrated Systems) | WEFO | 01/07/2015 - 28/02/2021 |
Hy4Heat Programme WP6 | BEIS | 01/08/2018 - 01/02/2020 |
Research Areas
Research into the development and application of zero-carbon fuels is crucially important for the development of future energy systems. The video below demonstrates a model gas turbine flame fuelled by H2/NH3 with minimised NOx production (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2018.07.091)
Gas Turbine flame fuelled by H2/NH3
At GTRC we employ advanced diagnostic techniques to better understand the performance of alternative fuels in applied systems. The video below shows a high-frequency thermoacoustic flame instability with a CH4/H2 flame captured with OH* chemiluminescence.
Thermoacoustic Flame instability captured with OH* chemiluminescence
Biography
Education
- 2013: PhD (Mechanical Engineering) Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- 2009: MEng (Integrated Engineering) Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Honours and awards
- Won the 2020 Hinshelwood Prize - peer reviewed by the Combustion Institute
Professional memberships
- Member of the British Section of the Combustion Institute
- Advanced HE Fellowship (FHEA)
Academic positions
- 2020 - present: Lecturer of fluid mechanics, Cardiff University
- 2017 - 2020: Research Fellow, Cardiff University
- 2013 - 2017: Research Associate, Cardiff University
I was intially employed as a Research Assistant following the completion of undergraduate work undertaken for my Integrated Engineering degree. The project required the characterisation of ferrous oxidation rates, in particular the demonstration and measurement of an autocatalytic influence within colloidal ferric solutions. The study was well received and led to the application and procurement of additional funding and further research preceding the completion of my Master’s degree.
I subsequently applied to undertake doctoral research on an EPSRC funded project, monitoring/optimising on-site energy generation and usage for a large integrated facility. My remit within the multidisciplinary team was the study of gases indigenous to the integrated steel-making process, leading to research in the field of fundamental and applied combustion. At this time, I began to work with Master’s and Undergraduate students on their projects; developing an understanding of the reaction kinetics associated with flame propagation and employing alternative fuels. Results allowed for a detailed understanding of combustion behaviour in relation to reducing operational instability within practical industrial systems.
After attaining my PhD, I took the position of first Research Associate, then Fellow at the School of Engineering’s Gas Turbine Research Centre investigating aspects of fundamental and applied combustion. The role required the operation and design of experimental facilities and test programmes that contributed towards both collaborative projects funded by external bodies, and my own novel research. I have contributed to projects awarded from multiple funding bodies including EPSRC, Technology Strategy Board (Innovate UK) and the EU, collaborating with leading industrial partners.Contemorary work has focussed on fundamental and applied combustion. Studied aspects include: Swirling and counterflow flames at elevated conditions for gas turbine applications, alternative zero-carbon and bio-derived fuels, staged/diffusion flames, harmful emissions reduction, laminar and turbulent flame propagation, and chemical kinetics with the validation and development of reaction mechanisms.
Supervisions
I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:
- The application of zero-carbon fuels such as H2 and NH3
- Fundamental combustion
- Emissions reduction
- The development of advanced diagnostic techniques
- The development of additive manufacturing for combustion applications
Current supervision
Marina Kovaleva
Research student