Die vorliegende Dissertationsschrift umfasst systematische Untersuchungen zur Oxidation von Methan und Formaldehyd an Eisenoxid-Vollkatalysatoren im sauerstoffreichen Abgas von Gasmotoren. Als Brennstoff kann sowohl biogenes als auch fossiles Methan eingesetzt werden, wobei mit Biogas betriebene Motoren im Fokus dieser Arbeit stehen. Die erzielten Ergebnisse zeigen, dass α-FeOOH-stämmige Katalysatoren eine hohe Oxidationsaktivität aufweisen. Unter abgastypischen Bedingungen startet die Umsetzung von Formaldehyd bei 150 °C und verläuft oberhalb von 300 °C vollständig. Der Methanumsatz beträgt bei 550 °C bis zu 30 %. Weiterhin liefern Struktur-Aktivitäts-Korrelationen sowie mechanistische Studien ein molekulares Verständnis für die Umsetzung der beiden Schadstoffe und bestimmende Eigenschaften der Eisenoxid-Katalysatoren. Zum einen wird deutlich, dass bei einer großen BET-Oberfläche (> 20 m2∙g-1) und Anzahl azider Adsorptionszentren sowie geringer Kristallitgröße (< 50 nm) eine hohe Methanoxidationsaktivität erhalten wird. Dabei liegen die Katalysatoren unter den abgastypischen Bedingungen in der α-Fe2O3-Modifikation vor. Des Weiteren ist eine hohe Redoxaktivität bzw. Sauerstoffmobilität von signifikanter Bedeutung. Die Methanumsetzung findet durch sequenzielle Abstraktion der Wasserstoffatome statt und wird demnach maßgeblich durch Wasserstofftransferprozesse und die Verfügbarkeit von aktiven Sauerstoffspezies auf der Katalysatoroberfläche beeinflusst. Die kinetische Modellierung der Methanoxidation legt die Umsetzung nach einem Langmuir-Hinshelwood-basierten Mechanismus nahe. Hierbei wird eine Aktivierungsenergie von 131 kJ∙mol-1 erhalten. Für eine hohe katalytische Aktivität bei der Formaldehydkonversion sind eine große BET-Oberfläche (> 20 m2∙g-1) und eine hohe Verfügbarkeit von Hydroxidgruppen essentiell. Die Oxidation verläuft bei tiefen Temperaturen (< 300 °C) vorwiegend nach einem Cannizzaro-Mechanismus, wobei als wesentliche Zwischenprodukte Methoxy- und Formiat-Spezies entstehen. Erstere sind die Ursache für die Methanolbildung im Anspringbereich der Umsetzung. Als katalytisch aktive Spezies können oberflächliche Hydroxidgruppen identifiziert werden, die an der Oberfläche der Fe2O3-Katalysatoren vorhanden sind und den Ablauf der Cannizzaro-Reaktion ermöglichen. Darüber hinaus wird im Rahmen der Aufskalierung des aktivsten Fe2O3-Katalysators das Potential für die Schadstoffminderung sowohl im Labormaßstab als auch an einem Gasmotor aufgezeigt. Hierbei wird Formaldehyd am frischen Katalysator vollständig zu Kohlenstoffdioxid umgesetzt, während die Oxidation des Methans aufgrund zu tiefer Temperaturen des Abgases nicht stattfindet.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / This body of research uses numerical and experimental investigative techniques to further the understanding of autoignition. Hydrogen/nitrogen and methane/air fuel configurations of turbulent lifted flames in a vitiated coflow burner are used as model flames for this investigation. Characterisation was undertaken to understand the impact of controlling parameters and the overall behaviour of the flames, and to provide a body of data for modelling comparisons. Modelling of the flames was conducted using the PDF-RANS technique with detailed chemistry incorporated using In-situ Adaptive Tabulation (ISAT) within the commercial CFD package, FLUENT 6.2. From these investigations, two numerical indicators for autoignition were developed: convection-reaction balance in the species transport budget at the mean flame base; and the build-up of ignition precursors prior to key ignition species. These indicators were tested in well defined autoignition and premixed flame cases, and subsequently used with the calculated turbulent lifted flames to identify if these are stabilised through autoignition. Based on learnings from the modelling, a quantitative, high-resolution simultaneous imaging experiment was designed to investigate the correlations of an ignition precursor (formaldehyde: CH2O) with a key flame radical (OH) and temperature. Rayleigh scattering was used to measure temperature, while Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) was used to measure OH and CH2O concentrations. The high resolution in the Rayleigh imaging permitted the extraction of temperature gradient data, and the product of the OH and CH2O images was shown to be a valid and useful proxy for peak heat release rate in autoigniting and transient flames. The experimental data confirmed the presence of formaldehyde as a precursor for autoignition in methane flames and led to the identification of other indicators. Sequenced images of CH2O, OH and temperature show clearly that formaldehyde exists before OH and peaks when autoignition occurs, as confirmed by images of heat release. The CH2O peaks decrease later while those of OH remain almost unchanged in the reaction zone.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / This body of research uses numerical and experimental investigative techniques to further the understanding of autoignition. Hydrogen/nitrogen and methane/air fuel configurations of turbulent lifted flames in a vitiated coflow burner are used as model flames for this investigation. Characterisation was undertaken to understand the impact of controlling parameters and the overall behaviour of the flames, and to provide a body of data for modelling comparisons. Modelling of the flames was conducted using the PDF-RANS technique with detailed chemistry incorporated using In-situ Adaptive Tabulation (ISAT) within the commercial CFD package, FLUENT 6.2. From these investigations, two numerical indicators for autoignition were developed: convection-reaction balance in the species transport budget at the mean flame base; and the build-up of ignition precursors prior to key ignition species. These indicators were tested in well defined autoignition and premixed flame cases, and subsequently used with the calculated turbulent lifted flames to identify if these are stabilised through autoignition. Based on learnings from the modelling, a quantitative, high-resolution simultaneous imaging experiment was designed to investigate the correlations of an ignition precursor (formaldehyde: CH2O) with a key flame radical (OH) and temperature. Rayleigh scattering was used to measure temperature, while Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) was used to measure OH and CH2O concentrations. The high resolution in the Rayleigh imaging permitted the extraction of temperature gradient data, and the product of the OH and CH2O images was shown to be a valid and useful proxy for peak heat release rate in autoigniting and transient flames. The experimental data confirmed the presence of formaldehyde as a precursor for autoignition in methane flames and led to the identification of other indicators. Sequenced images of CH2O, OH and temperature show clearly that formaldehyde exists before OH and peaks when autoignition occurs, as confirmed by images of heat release. The CH2O peaks decrease later while those of OH remain almost unchanged in the reaction zone.

Graphene has been shown to be very powerful as a transducer in many biosensor applications due to its high sensitivity. This enables smaller surfaces and therefore less material consumption when producing sensors and concequently cheaper and more portable sensors compared to the commercially available sensors today. The electrical properties of graphene are very sensitive to gas exposure why presence of molecules or small changes in concentration could easily be detected when using graphene as a sensing layer. Graphene is sensitive towards many molecules and in order to detect and possibly identify gas molecules the surface needs to be functionalized. The intention of this project was to use nanoparticles (NPs) to further increase sensitivity and specificity towards selected molecules and also enable biofunctionalization of the NPs, and by that tune the electrical properties of the graphene. This study proposes the use of Fe3O4 and TiO2 NPs to enable sensitive detection of volatile gases and possibly further functionalization of the NPs using biomolecules as a detecting agent in a liquid-phasebiosensor application. The interaction between graphene and NPs have been investigated using several surface charactarization methods and electrical measurements for detection of gaseous molecules and also molecules in a liquid solution. The characterizing methods used are XPS, AFM with surface-potential mapping and Raman spectroscopy with reflectance mapping in order to investigate the NPs interaction with the graphene surface. Sensors where manufactured for gas-phase detection of CO, formaldehyde, benzene and NH3 specifically and display differences in sensitivity and behavior of the Fe3O4 and TiO2 NPs respectively. For liquid measurements the difference in behavior in two buffers was investigated using an in-house flow-cell setup. The surface charecterizing measurements indicated that just a small difference could be found between the two NPs, however a significant change in sensor response could be detected as a function of coverage. The liquid and gas-phase measurements rendered information on differences in sensitivity between the NPs and between analytes where TiO2 showed a higher level of sensitivity towards most of the gases investigated. Both Fe3O4 and TiO2 NP coated graphene showed capability to detect formaldehyde and benzene down to 50 ppb and 5 ppb respectively. The sensitive gas detection could help protecting individuals being exposed to a hazardous level of volatile gases if concentrations increase rapidly or at a long term exposure with lower concentrations, improving saftey and health where these gases are present.