Off-Campus Industrial Laboratory
The University of Utah's 15,000 square foot Advanced Energy Systems Research Facility is located off-campus in an industrial area of Salt Lake City and houses several semi-pilot-scale combustion and gasification rigs. The facility has 480V power, natural gas, water and compressed air, plus forklifts, cranes and on-site engineers and welders for fabrication/modification of equipment. All activities at the energy research facility are overseen by the university’s Environmental Health and Safety department and the facility has all necessary environmental and operations permits. Facility staff have many years of experience running the equipment and are experienced in sampling and data acquisition.
Currently, the Advanced Energy Systems Research Facility houses the following equipment. Details are available at the facility website.
- Circulating fluidized bed reactor – operates as a combustor or gasifier
- Dual fluidized bed reactor – for gasification or chemical looping studies
- Pressurized entrained-flow reactor – for gasification, POX or oxy-fuel combustion studies
- Pressurized fluidized bed reactor – for gasification or combustion studies
- Multi-fuel combustor – for solid, liquid or gaseous feed
- Rotary kiln – batch system for torrefaction or pyrolysis
- Thermal oxidizer – for gas destruction
Available analytical equipment includes:
- Continuous emission monitors (CEMs) for CO2, CO, H2, CH4, C2H2, C2H4, O2, SO2, NO, NO2
- Process gas chromatograph typically calibrated for H2, CO, CO2, CH4, O2, N2, He (used as tracer for gas flow calculations). The GC can be calibrated for other gases, as well.
- Industrial process FTIR
- Online particulate sampling and measurement
Advanced Energy Systems Research Facility