Stephen E. Zitney
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Stephen E. Zitney |
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Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulation of Zero-Emission Power Plants on High-Performance Computers At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), computational scientists and engineers, building on collaborations with NETL R&D technology partners, are developing the Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator (APECS) as an integrated software suite that combines overall process simulation with high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD), advanced visualization, and high-performance computing. Such capabilities represent a necessary step in the development of virtual plant simulations that will ultimately reduce the time, cost, and technical risk of developing high-efficiency, zero-emission power plants. In this poster, we describe the APECS technology and highlight its application to a coal-fired, gasification-based power and hydrogen production plant for the DOE’s FutureGen project. The 275-megawatt FutureGen plant will employ advanced coal gasification technology integrated with combined cycle electricity generation, hydrogen production, and capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide. The APECS co-simulation capabilities are demonstrated here by coupling detailed CFD simulations for an entrained-flow gasifier and gas turbine combustor into an overall FutureGen process simulation. To improve turnaround time, the CFD models can be executed in parallel on clusters and supercomputers at NETL and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. Using the advanced visualization and analysis capabilities in APECS, we illustrate how the co-simulation technology can help engineers understand and optimize the fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions that drive overall power plant performance and efficiency.
Research Group Leader, Device-Scale & Systems Modeling |