This diploma thesis deals with a design of steam boiler used to incineration of mixed municipal waste. Based on the specified fuel and the required output parameters of the steam from a steam boiler is calculated stoichiometry of incineration, thermal losses and overall boiler efficiency. Other chapters of thesis are focused on construction and thermal calculation of boiler moves. Finally, this thesis is to check heat balance of the boiler.

Predicting new materials through virtually screening a large number of hypothetical materials using supercomputers has enabled materials discovery at an accelerated pace. However, the innumerable number of possible hypothetical materials necessitates the development of faster computational methods for speedier screening of materials reducing the time of discovery. In this thesis, I aim to understand and apply two computational methods for materials prediction. The first method deals with a computational high-throughput study of superalloys. Superalloys are materials which exhibit high-temperature strength. A combinatorial high-throughput search across 2224 ternary alloy systems revealed 102 potential superalloys of which 37 are brand new, all of which we patented. The second computational method deals with a machine-learning (ML) approach and aims at understanding the consistency among five different state-of-the-art machine-learning models in predicting the formation enthalpy of 10 different binary alloys. The study revealed that although the five different ML models approach the problem uniquely, their predictions are consistent with each other and that they are all capable of predicting multiple materials simultaneously.My contribution to both the projects included conceiving the idea, performing calculations, interpreting the results, and writing significant portions of the two journal articles published related to each project. A follow-up work of both computational approaches, their impact, and future outlook of materials prediction are also presented.

In the present study, a finite volume method is employed to modelthe advection-diffusion phenomenon during a pure substance meltingprocess. The exercise is limited to a benchmark problem consisting ofthe 2D melting from a vertical wall of a PCM driven by natural convectionin the melt. Numerical results, mainly the temporal evolutionof average Nusselt number at the hot wall and the average liquid fraction,are validated by available literature data and the effect of thermalinertia in the heat transfer is considered as well. Finally, motivatedby recent publications and the model presented here, possible new researchtopics are proposed.

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The Abraham solvation model (ABSM) is an experimentally derived predictive model used to help predict various solute properties. This work covers various uses for the ABSM including predicting molar enthalpies of vaporization, predicting solvent coefficients for two new solvents (2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane and diethyl carbonate), predicting values for multiple new ionic liquids (ILs). This work also introduces a novel method for updating IL ABSM parameters by updating cation- and anion-specific values using linear algebra and binary matrices.

This paper determines the feasibility of adding a heater to an existing blowdown supersonic wind tunnel to unlock new high-enthalpy test applications, considering cost and power requirements at a variety of different states. This process includes both modeling the current range of test section properties in Cal Poly's blowdown wind tunnel and determining the new range of properties that a heat exchanger could induce. These results are verified with a computational fluid dynamics study. Additionally, sublimation and ablation properties of materials are explored to create appropriate models to study atmospheric re-entry once the heat exchanger is implemented. It is found that adding a heater to the supersonic wind tunnel would significantly increase the test section temperature. Additionally, enough heat could be added without damaging the facility to surpass the vapor pressure of camphor and naphthalene at test section conditions, allowing for the tunnel to be used for sublimation and ablation applications. Using the tunnel with the variable Mach nozzle currently installed would induce minimum heater power requirements of 75kW for a Mach 4 configuration and 200kW for the testing Mach 3.13 condition to reach this vapor pressure. However, this power requirement can be significantly reduced by installing a new nozzle that would induce flow at a Mach number of 6-8. Liquefaction is found to be avoided at every test and Mach condition, even without any heat added, while condensation cannot be avoided at any configuration, regardless of nozzle used or heat added. Therefore, we recommend that a dryer be installed to help remedy these issues.

As renewable energy production becomes more prevalent, the challenge of producing renewable dispatchable fuel for the transportation sector remains unresolved. One promising approach is to produce hydrogen from solar energy with a two step thermochemical cycle which utilizes an oxygen storage material (OSM) to split water through two reversible reactions. Due to the strong coupling between reactor design, operational parameters, and OSM properties, the direct comparison of two OSMs is not straightforward. In order to guide the designs of OSMs for two-step thermochemical hydrogen production, a methodology is developed to model the max performance possible for a two-step thermochemical cycle. The novel contribution of this model considers the strong coupling between reactor operation, OSM properties, and reactor performance. Next, a method for screening and evaluating new OSMs which utilizes thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is proposed. With this data, the modeling method previously developed is applied to determine maximum reactor efficiency possible with new materials. This allows many materials to be evaluated quickly, and facilitates further characterization new OSMs. Additionally, by comparing the predicted maximum efficiency of a new material with the efficiency of current ones, this method facilitates the comparison of two different OSMs on equal footing.

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