Abstract :
Renewable electricity from wind/solar/hydro is proving to be crucial for eliminating fossil fuel use in transport, residential, and light industry applications. However, lowering fossil resource reliance of heavy industry presents a significant challenge due to the sheer scale of industrial processes and the integrated use of fossil resources for heat/power generation as well as feedstocks for producing key chemical commodities. As such, development of scalable low-CO2-footprint technologies that can displace fossil resource use as a fuel and feedstock are needed in the hard-to-abate sectors, such as plastics manufacturing, cement production, and steelmaking, to name a few. In this presentation I will outline several research projects that aim to promote scalable decarbonization technologies that I have undertaken in my Ph.D. and current postdoctoral work. The first two projects are based on fluidized bed thermochemical conversion processes: 1) integrated heat/energy production with negative CO2 emission though biomass chemical looping combustion, and 2) displacing fossil feedstock through thermochemical recycling of plastic waste to virgin polymer building blocks. The discussion will have a special focus on thermochemical phenomena related to the inorganic species present in biomass and waste-derived feedstocks and will explain how understanding the effects of inorganics can contribute to the scale-up and commercialization of these technologies. The third project is based on thermal plasma technology and aims to utilize renewable electricity for generation of fossil-free process heat and for thermochemical valorization of industrial fuel gases. This discussion will focus on the development of plasma-assisted burners and thermal plasma non-oxidative coupling of methane.
Biography:
Dr. Gogolev is a postdoctoral researcher at the division of Energy Technology at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. His research focuses on exploring thermochemical conversion phenomena relevant to the development and commercialization of scalable technologies aimed at decarbonizing the industrial sector. Such technologies include thermochemical recycling of plastic and biomass wastes, carbon capture through chemical looping combustion, as well as industrial electrification of high temperature processes. Dr. Gogolev completed his B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. degrees at the University of Toronto, and his Ph.D. degree at Chalmers University of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Anders Lyngfelt. Prior to graduate studies, Dr. Gogolev spent over 6 years as an engineer in Alberta’s energy sector, as well as several years in consulting and teaching in the Waterloo and Toronto areas.