Facilities
The Centre for Energy and Resource Technology operates a wide range of facilities, many of which are unique to Cranfield, to support both our students and our industrial partners.
In relation to Offshore and Ocean Technology Cranfield University possesses state-of-the-art corrosion laboratories and diving tanks. We operate both autonomous and remotely operated vehicles for undersea applications. These facilities underpin our research and teaching activities. We also run the record breaking hyperbaric chamber for deep weld simulation.
In relation to energy, our focus is on clean power generation from fossil and renewable fuels. We operate unique engineering-scale facilities for the development of efficient technologies with low CO2 emissions. Our test rigs for advanced fuel combustion are world leading and allow us to capture research data at the near industrial scale. We are well equipped to examine the practical implications of the various energy futures being considered in the context of climate change.
High Velocity Burner Rig
The high velocity burner rig is designed to simulate environments found in industrial gas turbines. It can operate with gas temperatures up to 1400oC and gas velocity up to 300m/s.
The burner rig is fired on natural gas, up to 1.8MWth, and has facilities for controlled gaseous, liquid and particulate contaminent injection to allow simulation of environments found in gas turbines fired on a range of fuels. Air cooled probes are used to simulate gas turbine components.
The burner rig control allows automated operation and can be used with on-line gas analysis.
High Temperature Combustor
The high temperature combustor can be fired with pulverised coal, natural gas, fuel gas from the gasifier, biomass and waste. It has a 0.3m square cross section and operates at temperatures up to 1600oC. It can be linked with the fluidised combustor for co-firing studies.
There are facilities for sorbent/catalyst injection for gas cleaning studies and has removable heat exchanger tubes for materials performance and fouling/slagging studies. The system also has on-line gas analysis and process parameter monitoring with continuous data logging.
Bubbling Fluidised Bed Combustor
The Bubbling fluidised bed combustor can be fired with coal, biomass and waste (up to 15kg/h) using air fluidisation. It also has supplementary natural gas firing. The combustor has a 0.3m square cross section. There are facilities for bed sorbent additions and in-bed contaminant additions.
Fluidised Bed Gasifier
The spouted fluidised bed gasification rig has a 0.15m diameter and is capable of processing gaseous, liquid and solid fuels (including coal, waste and biomass) at up to 15kg/h. Varying degrees of downstream cleaning can be used. The bed can be fluidised using air and/or steam and has facilities for bed sorbent additions. Cooled probes for deposition and materials studies can be added along the hot gas path. The system has on-line gas analysis that allow the calculation of process mass flow.
Controlled Atmosphere Furnaces
The Power Generation Technology Centre has a diverse range of controlled atmosphere electrical and gas-fired furnaces. These furnaces are used for process simulation, corrosion and erosion testing and thermal cycling evaluations.
