ECOS 2018 is the 31st International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems which has been taken place in Guimarães between the 18th and the 21st of June.

Main topics discussed during the conference have been exergy as a process optimization, ORC, thermal recovery, fuel cells, energy storage, renewable energy, combustion, etc.

Under VULKANO Project CIDAUT’s paper entitled “Application of the CFD simulation to the evaluation of natural gas replacement by syngas in burners of the ceramic sector” has been presented.This paper gathers a wide evaluation of the alternatives in the reduction of fossil fuel consumption, such as natural gas, promoting its substitution by an alternative fuel (Co-firing). A revision of the types of syngas with potential for use has been carried out, as well as the evaluation of the physical properties of the mixtures from the combustion operation point of view. The feasibility study has taken into consideration parameters such as the low heat value, the Woobe index, adiabatic flame temperature, air preheating temperature, total flue flow and laminar flame velocity. The modifications for SG co-firing have been evaluated using CFD simulations to establish the proper design of the mix zone to ensure the mixture between the air, syngas and natural gas. Moreover, despite the initial objective was to replace 40% of natural gas energy by syngas in an industrial ceramic furnace, new dedicated burners for 100% of syngas substitution have been designed and simulated.

The Institute of Power Engineering (IEn), as partner of CIDAUT in VULKANO, also presented a paper entitled “CFD analysis of natural gas substitution by syngas in industrial furnaces” which evaluated the integration of new burners in the whole furnace system and simulating the real heating process in steel sector.

Furthermore, the VALORCOMP project partners have also been involved attending to different technical presentations in topics related with biomass, energy use and combustion, gasification, reaction engineering and CO2 mitigation.

More info about the conference in: http://www.ecos2018.org/

More info about VULKANO project: http://www.vulkano-h2020.eu/

Keywords: VULKANO, ECOS2018, CFD, Burner, VALORCOMP