Research Focus (listed by individual researchers)

Research Associates:

Malevich, Dzmitry (Sr. Research Associate)

My research is focused on the interface of electrochemistry, catalysis and surface science. Electrochemical processes on the boundary of metal nanoparticals with size of few nanometers and polymer electrolyte are in center of attention. These processes have important practical application for clean energy generation in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells where hydrogen is used as a fuel. I apply electrochemical methods such as impedance spectroscopy and voltammetry to study complex processes in order to determine factors that limit fuel cell performance and cause degradation.  Reduction of platinum metal load and increase catalyst utilization, optimization of water balance, improvement of nanostructured materials and polymer electrolyte stability in order to ensure high and stable fuel cell performance are key directions in my research.

Post Doctoral Fellows:

Berson, Arganthael

My current research addresses the problem of water management in PEM fuel cells. It focues on the experimental characterization (micro-PIV) of the dynamics of the two-phase flow (air/water) in PEM fuel cell micro-channels.

Burheim, Odne (Supervisor: Jon Pharoah)

Choi, Hae-Won (Supervisor: Jon Pharoah)

I am currently involved in two projects. The first project is mainly focused on the development of computer based modeling suites using OpenFOAM CFD Toolbox for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system. The second project is to model and analyze transport phenomena for microstructure of LSM/YSZ composite electrodes of SOFC.

Huynh, Keith (Supervisor: Brant Peppley/Boyd Davis)

In a typical internal combustion engine of a diesel transport truck, only 30% of the fuel energy is applied to propelling the vehicle while 65% is lost as waste heat.  The current research focus aims at capturing the waste heat to power a thermally regenerative fuel cell (TRFC) and provide electricity to low–speed drives (start/stop functions) and auxiliary equipment.  In this device, the waste heat is used to remove hydrogen from a fluid and then recombine the hydrogen with the by–product fluid in a fuel cell to generate electricity.

Monder, Misha (Supervisor: Kunal Karan)

I am currently developing detailed micro-kinetic models to describe the chemistry of poisoning of Ni based SOFC anodes by sour natural gas. Once these models are ready, they will be linked with continuum scale transport-reaction models that describe all the physical and (electro) chemical processes in a working SOFC. The complete models will be compared against the extensive experimental data on the sulfur poisoning of Ni SOFCs in the research literature.

PhD Candidates:

De Bakker, Jan (Supervisor: Boyd Davis)

I am working on molten salt hydrates (MSHs). These are salt solutions which have strongly hydrating ions and very low water contents (less than about 8 moles of water per mole salt). Molten salt hydrates exist as liquids at temperatures up to 300o C or more, far past the boiling point of water, and they can be extremely corrosive. As a result, they have a number of potential applications, including leaching of refractory ores, high-temperature hydrolysis of iron and other metals to form oxides, and heat storage. My research investigates the basic thermodynamics of these systems; this thermodynamic knowledge will then be used to develop the applications of MSH systems.

Harvey, David (Supervisor: Jon Pharoah)

Direct numerical simulation of PEM catalysts

Jayasankar, Barath Ram (Supervisor: Kunal Karan)

AC impedance spectroscopy is a diagnostic tool that helps in the characterization of electrochemical systems.  Through analysis of impedance data, information on mass transport processes, kinetic processes, presence of multistep reactions, presence of a physical process such as adsorption etc. can be obtained.  Modeling and impedance analysis of PEM fuel cells can help in design, fabrication and optimization of fuel cell systems.

Khakbaz-Baboli, Mobin (Supervisors: Jon Pharoah/B. Peppley)

Numerical modeling of PEM catalyst layers.

Li, Chenxi (Supervisor: Pascale Champagne)

• Determine anaerobic biodegradability of various waste biomass feedstocks using biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays & assess suitability as codigestates.
• Examine effects of temperature, codigestate ratio & solids concentration on biogas composition.
• Apply ultrasonic and chemical pretreatment on the selected substrates to modified the anaerobic processes and increase biogas production.
• 20L anaerobic testing reactors will be installed in Ravensview wastewater plant to perform studies on waste biomass co-digestions determined from BMP assays.
• Determine effect of sludge/codigestate composition and operational conditions on biogas quality/quantity.
• Based on the information from the lab work, optimize the operational and pretreatment performance and transfer the data to system modeling.

Parmar, Rajesh (Supervisor: Kunal Karan)

The main focus of the thesis is to develop a microchannel reactor for diesel and biodiesel reforming. The approach is:

• Fabricate a microchannel reactor and characterize it.
• Develop or search for the suitable catalyst that could reform various fossil fuels ( like in our case Diesel) and also Biodiesel (a renewble source)
• Develop industrially suitable method to coat different catalysts inside the microchannel.
• Characterization of the catalyst activity and kinetics, experimental determination of the effect of catalyst coating on heat transfer coefficient.
• Finding out the performance of microreactor for various fuels with various catalyst and different configurations.
• Determination of optimum catalyst composition and type, reactor configuration, different binding methods to get maximum reactor efficiency and selectivity.
• Cost-benefit analysis of the developed system, which could be used as a source for Fuel Cells.

Paul, Devproshad Kumer (Supervisors: Kunal Karan/Brant Peppley)  

I am working on synthesis and electrochemicall characterization of catalyst layers and fabrication of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell MEAs by decal transfer. I am also working on ink formulation and fabrication of PEM fuel cell MEAs by catalyst printing using piezoelectric printer.

Mundhwa, Mayur (Supervisor: Christopher Thurgood)

Enbridge/MCFC

Shakrawar, Sangeeta (Supervisor: Brant Peppley/Jon Pharoah)

I am working on computational modelling by using OpenFOAM CFD toolbox for the analysis of stressed in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). I am also updating properties of SOFC materials.

MSc Candidates:

Arulmozhi, Nakkiran (Supervisor: Kunal Karan)

Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) mechanism in mixed-conductor SOFC cathodes. Experimental studies on Transport and kinetics phenomena at cathode/Electrolyte interface using impedance spectroscopy (micro-probe) on dense and porous systems

Aubin, Ryan (Supervisor: Boyd Davis)

My research will focus on the design of a thermally regenerative fuel cell which can be applied in an industrial setting. Systems to be explored include hydrogenation/dehydrogenation of organics and saline hydrides.

Baker, Craig (Supervisor: Jon Pharoah)

My research involves the simulation of a PEM cathode using a direct numerical simulation approach.  I am constructing a three dimensional code which will construct a representative geometry.  With this geometry i will use a finite volume method to solve for the relevant transport coefficients.

Blore, Drew (Supervisor: Jon Pharoah)

Dhingra, Harsh (Supervisor: Brant Peppley)

Gerson, Jonas Elliott (Supervisor: Kunal Karan)

I will be functionalizing PDMS to create cost-effective micropumps to deal with water accumulation in PEM Fuel Cells.

Hardjo, Eric (Supervisor: Kunal Karan)

I will be investigating the full chemical and electrochemical kinetics occurring at the micro-pore anode. The heat and transport effects will be investigated as well. the model will be constructed in COMSOL Simulation software.

James, Jerome (Supervisor: Jon Pharoah)

Imaging the porous transport layer of PEM Fuel Cells under various loading situations using micro x-ray tomography.

Khan, Yasir (Supervisor: Brant Peppley)

Khosravi, Aida (Supervisor: Brant Peppley)

The main focus of my research is on catalytic coatings of metal foam monoliths for compact reformers.

Lackey, Jillian (Supervisor: Pascale Champagne)

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC’s) have the possibility of operating on various hydrocarbon fuels. Through this research, the possibility of using reformate produced from the anaerobic digestion (AD) process will be investigated. Typical biogas at the City of Kingston’s Ravensview Water Pollution Control Plant (2008/09) contains, by mass, 61.8% methane, 37.0% carbon dioxide, 13.3% hydrogen sulfide, 744mg/m3 TVOC’s, 691.8mg/m3 VOC’s (less Toluene) and 52.5 mg/m3 Toluene (OSB Services 2009). The tested synthetic biogas will have a composition similar to what would be expected of the Ravensview biogas after reformation.

Research on biogas data from different municipalities will be conducted, including: anaerobic digestion (AD) process conditions, co-digestrate ratio, variability in biogas production & composition for testing in SOFC’s. Using that data, as well as additional information from bench-scale AD’s, a sensitivity analysis of the standard Ni-YSZ anode will be conducted. The goal of this research is to further understand the variability of biogas from the AD process that can be used as a fuel for the SOFC.

Naseri, Seyed Alireza Tanhatan (Supervisor: Brant Peppley)

My research involves finding a novel design for a reformer and simulating its performance in a micro-generation process, using VMGSim software environment.

Skrecky, Kristin (Supervisor: Boyd Davis)

Sonoc, Alexandru (Supervisor: Chris Thurgood)

In oxygen free environments organic matter degrades to biogas: a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, water vapour, and trace vapours and gases.  Industrially this process is used in anaerobic digesters to compact waste; most notably sludge in wastewater treatment plants and agricultural residue in farms. The methane produced in the process has the potential to be a valuable source of energy, especially when used as feed for a solid oxide fuel cell.

This potential is hampered by the presence of contaminants in the biogas that either cover the catalyst or poison it. The three classes of contaminants are: silicon containing organics (mostly siloxanes) that decompose into glass inside the fuel cell, high molecular weight hydrocarbons that cause coking, and hydrogen sulphide that poisons the catalyst. My research project is to devise a method of removing these contaminants from the biogas.

Thomas, Edward (Supervisor: Kunal Karan) Supported by AUTO21

This project uses micro-structured monolith substrates to build high-efficiency gas-phase fuel reformers for converting low-weight hydrocarbons to streams of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and other byproducts. The design goal is to combine the heat transfer and reaction vessel function in a single high surface-to-volume morphology.

Research goals include: the development of industrially suitable methods for applying supported catalysts on non-traditional metallic monoliths; characterization of the catalyst activity and kinetics, experimental determination of the effects of catalyst coating on effective heat transfer coefficients and direct numerical simulation of microscale coupled momentum heat and mass transfer in a working reactor.

Verification of reactor prototypes is carried out through in-situ fuel conversion testing, temperature programmed desorption, and testing in an in-house heat exchanger-air flow apparatus. Additional material characterization and measurement is done using porometer analysis, SEM, and BET and TPD analysis.

Research Focus of Graduates (listed by individual researchers)

Babasola, Adegboyega MSc Graduate - August 2010

(Supervisor: Brant Peppley)

Rresearch focus: modeling a Fuel Cell for generating non-combustion thermal energy for pre-heating at pressure drop point during commercial transportation of natural gas.

Investigation of a CHP (Combine heat and power) fuel cell system and its operating condition that would gave optimum efficiency in preheating natural gas while transporting the gas from a high pressure pipeline to a low pressure pipeline.

A gas turbine (run by the preheated gas) would also be combined with the system to generate additional electricity.

Castagne, David MSc Graduate - November 2008

Supervisors: Kim McAuley and Kunal Karan

Work-terms during my undergrad., including - Nova Chemicals at Sarnia, ON / North Atlantic Refining Ltd. at Come-by-Chance, NL / Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Ltd. at Corner Brook, NL

Howard, Cliff MSc Graduate - October 2009

(Supervisor: Pat Oosthuizen)

My research will focus around an expansion turbine installed at natural gas pressure reduction stations. Natural gas is transported large distances at high pressures. In order to distribute the gas the pressure must be reduced significantly. Currently most pressure reduction stations in North America use expansion valves to control the pressure. In order to utilize the energy lost during the gas expansion a turbine could be installed parallel to expansion valves. These turbines would serve the same purpose as the expansion valves and generate electrical power from the expanding gas.

Because of cooling effects associated with the expansion process the gas must be preheated. In current systems a combustion boiler is used to preheat the gas. A MCFC running on natural gas could be used in conjunction with the turbine to preheat the gas and provide additional low emission electrical powe

Kenney, Ben PhD Graduate - December 2009

(Supervisor: Kunal Karan)  Supported by AUTO 21

I am working on understanding and improving the performance of solid oxide fuel cell cathods. Using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, I am interested in finding out what limits the SOFC cathode performance. Using this information, we can then improve the cathode by tailoring the microstructural features of the cathode for maximum performance or/and by using different cathode materials. The overall goal is to engineer efficient cathodes for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell operation and reduce the cost of the solid oxide fuel cell system.

Kim, Jin MSc Graduate - January 2009

Supervisors: Chris Thurgood/Brant Peppley

Conventional fuel cell design uses flow fields made from graphite blocks onto which channels are machined.  There are several types of channels including parallel, serpentine, parallel serpentine, grid, and long parallel.  A certain type is chosen depending on the needs in different applications.

It is shown in many studies that higher fuel cell performance is achieved with smaller channel dimensions and more number of channels because higher pressure drops across the flow field exist at lower permeability.  However, the permeability of the channel design cannot go below the value of around 10-8 m2 because machining very thin channels onto graphite blocks to achieve such low permeability is very difficult and is a very expensive process.  It is proven in some studies that use of metal foam offers very attractive advantages over the thin channel design to achieve permeability as low as 10-12 m2, thereby, resulting in higher cell performance with more uniform distribution of current density.

Since fuel cell operates under a constant corrosive environment, metal foam may not be a desirable choice.  In my research work, reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) foam from ERG groups is going to be used serving as a flow field, a gas diffusion layer, and a catalyst layer.  Once it is proven that RVC foam works well in a forced-flow type fuel cell, next research focus is going to be on developing an air-breathing fuel cell operating in a passive manner.

Resch, Emmanuel MSc Graduate - November 2008

Supervisor: Jon Pharoah

Supported by AUTO21

In conjunction with the Alberta Research Council (ARC), my thesis research involves detailed single-cell and stack modeling of a micro-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC).  This project is intended to help speed development and lower the cost of producing prototype cells for the ARC.  As well, this modeling work is part of an Auto21-funded group effort to research fuel-cell-powered auxiliary power units for the transportation industry.

VanBruinessen, Andrea MSc Graduate - December 2008

Supervisor: Kunal Karan

The main focus of the research is to improve the cathode catalyst performance in PEMFCs and lower catalyst cost by engineering the electrode microstructure.

The approach being investigated is the use of carbon nanotubes as a support material for the platinum catalyst. Having the carbon nanotubes/Pt particles uniformly spaced and oriented perpendicular would provide a better path for oxygen diffusion thus improving the catalyst usage. The design is aimed to significantly lower catalyst loading but maximize catalyst utilization, thus material cost will be decreased without affecting the performance.

One of the major aspects of this research is to examine the deposition of platinum onto carbon nanotubes. Different solution deposition methods will be examined as possibilities to obtain evenly dispersed platinum on carbon nanotubes.

Research Focus of Former HQP (listed by individual researchers)

Amin, Ruhul (PDF - left FCRC January 2010)

Research Focus: Field of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell cathode materials, with special emphasis on micro-contact measurement for elucidating the mechanism of oxygen reduction kinetics

Kundu, Arunabha (Research Associate - left FCRC July 2009)

Research Focus: Development of Stable and Durable Catalyst for Diesel Reforming.

Hou, Chenghan (MSc Candidate - left FCRC July 2010)

Research Focus: Solid sodium borohydride reacts with water, forms hydrogen and also by-product, sodium metaborate. The sodium metaborate combines with water and forms film coated on the sodium borohydride, which stops further hydrolysis of sodium borohydride. To remove sodium metaborate in order to continue the reaction, there are two main methods; chemical and dynamic. Her research involved finding an economic and practical way to remove the sodium mataborate.