Highly efficient combustion with low excess air in a modern energy-from-waste (EfW) plant.

The effect of low excess air and high adiabatic combustion temperatures on CO and NOx formation has been investigated on a commercially operated energy-from-waste plant. With optimal combination of low O levels and stable combustion control, uncontrolled NOx levels could be lowered to 100-150mg/Nm (dry, at 11% O) while keeping CO emissions at low levels. Even at adiabatic temperatures above 1400°C thermal NOx hardly contributed to the total NOx emissions in a grate-fired EfW plant.

Effect of solvent composition on oxide morphology during flame spray pyrolysis of metal nitrates.

The effect of solvent composition on particle formation during flame spray pyrolysis of inexpensive metal-nitrates has been investigated for alumina, iron oxide, cobalt oxide, zinc oxide and magnesium oxide. The as-prepared materials were characterized by electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and disc centrifugation (XDC). The influence of solvent parameters such as boiling point, combustion enthalpy and chemical reactivity on formation of either homogeneous nanoparticles by evaporation/nucleation/coagulation (gas-to-particle conversion) or large particles through precipitation and conversion within the sprayed droplets (droplet-to-particle conversion) is discussed.

Probing the dynamics of nanoparticle growth in a flame using synchrotron radiation.

Flame synthesis is one of the most versatile and promising technologies for large-scale production of nanoscale materials. Pyrolysis has recently been shown to be a useful route for the production of single-walled nanotubes, quantum dots and a wide variety of nanostructured ceramic oxides for catalysis and electrochemical applications. An understanding of the mechanisms of nanostructural growth in flames has been hampered by a lack of direct observations of particle growth, owing to high temperatures (2,000 K), rapid kinetics (submillisecond scale), dilute growth conditions (10(-6) volume fraction) and optical emission of synthetic flames.