ENERGY - S.M.A.R.T. Group
(Energy - Storage, Membranes, Adsorption Research and Technology)
with Dr. F. Handan Tezel, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIC, FEIC
Dr. F. Handan Tezel leads the Energy-S.M.A.R.T. team (Energy-Storage, Membranes, Adsorption Research and Technology), composed of graduate (Ph.D. candidate and M.A.Sc. candidate) and undergraduate (B.A.Sc. candidate) students.
They work together in the Chemical and Biological Engineering laboratories in the Colonel By building located on the University of Ottawa campus in downtown Ottawa, ON.
Post-doctoral Fellow
Energy - S.M.A.R.T.
Thermal Energy Storage in Adsorbent Beds
Adsorbents [sic] and salt hydrates can be used as a media to store thermal energy in a compact, safe, and long term way. This means that excess solar thermal energy produced in the summer months could be stored and then used for heating in the winter months. As such, the thermal energy storage group focuses on developing and testing adsorbent materials on the lab and bulk-scale, in order to assess their energy storage performance. We are also working on quantifying the effects of process operating parameters like flow rate and temperature in order to facilitate scale-up of these thermochemical energy storage systems.
Curtis Strong
M.A.Sc. Candidate
Coming soon.
Maria Abbassi
M.A.Sc. Candidate
Coming soon.
Sean Wilson
Ph.D. Candidate
Ye H. Carrier
Ph.D, P.Eng
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) for Space Heating and Cooling Applications
Energy can be stored in many forms: mechanical, chemical, electrochemical, biological, magnetic, and thermal. Thermal energy storage provides an alternative method to store energy generated from intermittent renewable energy sources and correct for the variable supply and demand. The thermal energy storage device can also be charged with surplus electricity during non-peak hours, discharge and release the heat during peak hours. Our current work investigates the thermal energy storage technology for space heating and cooling applications using water vapor adsorption process in porous materials.
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Graduate Students
Production of Natural Gas from Renewable Sources using Adsorption Technology
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Amirhosein’s research is focused to develop a technology and identify adsorbents that are better able to remove impurities such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N2), and oxygen (O2) from biogas (mostly CH4, also referred to as natural gas) at different system total pressures for different concentrations using adsorption technology. His research will be carrying out adsorbent screening, by determining pure component and mixed gas adsorption isotherm data. Promising adsorbents will then be selected and tested to obtain and look at adsorbents’ performance data when treating different gas mixtures in fixed bed adsorption systems. Concentration pulse chromatographic technique will be used to determine binary mixture isotherms of these gases with the chosen adsorbents. Breakthrough curves will also be determined using multicomponent mixtures of the above mentioned gases.
Amirhosein Jahanshahi
Ph.D. Candidate
Dana Li
M.A.Sc. Candidate
Separation of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, and Methane by Adsorption
Adsorption for the separation of gases is attractive due to its relatively low capital cost and energy requirements compared to absorption or distillation. Our current research involves determining the single adsorption capacities of CO2, N2, and CH4 for commercially available adsorbents, as well as the binary adsorption capacities of CO2 and N2 in the presence of CH4. After identifying promising adsorbents from these tests, breakthrough experiments will be completed to assess their performance for multicomponent mixtures.
Shaaima is working on separating greenhouse gases using ceramic zeolitic membranes. Her current research includes understanding the different factors in membrane synthesis that contribute to performance and improving the testing module. The separation of gases occurs due to the difference in adsorption affinities of these molecules towards the zeolite (silicalite). By performing gas permeation experiments with different gases the membrane can be characterized using a model, in addition, intrinsic properties of silicalite can be found.
Shaaima AlAkwaa
M.A.Sc. Candidate
Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is caused by indoor air pollution and is the major issue for people who spend most of their time indoors. This medical condition is frequently attributed to chemical contaminants such as volatile organic compounds that accumulate indoors and are of particular concern in places with inadequate ventilation. Hydrophobic adsorbents can completely purify the major indoor air pollutants and are re-usable. This study is important for future work into gas masks and indoor filters to purify indoor air pollutants to alleviate people who suffer from Sick Building Syndrome.