Les procédés thermochimiques solaires étudiés concernent la conversion de charges hydrocarbonées solides ou gazeuses en syngas, ainsi que la réduction d’oxydes en métaux en utilisant l’énergie solaire concentrée pour effectuer les réactions endothermiques, permettant ainsi le stockage de l’énergie solaire intermittente en carburants sans émissions de CO2. Ce travail a pour objectif l’étude expérimentale de trois procédés solaires incluant la gazéification de biomasse, le reformage de méthane en boucle chimique, et la carboréduction de ZnO et MgO. La gazéification et le reformage permettent la valorisation de biomasse bois et de méthane en syngas, tandis que la carboréduction permet de produire Zn et Mg à partir de ZnO et MgO. Ces procédés ont été étudiés dans des réacteurs solaires de 1.5 kWth, en utilisant le rayonnement concentré fourni par des systèmes à concentration du laboratoire PROMES, Odeillo, France. L’impact des paramètres opératoires de chaque procédé sur les mécanismes réactionnels, conversion, rendement, et performances énergétiques a été évalué en détail. Ces procédés ont permis d’améliorer la conversion chimique, les rendements en syngas, les efficacités énergétiques tout en permettant un stockage de l’énergie solaire en combustibles transportables, avec des performances globales supérieures aux procédés conventionnels. De plus, leur faisabilité, fiabilité et robustesse pour la conversion de méthane et biomasse en syngas et la production de Mg et Zn en fonctionnement batch ou continu sous pression réduite ou atmosphérique en conditions solaires réelles ont été démontrés. / The investigated solar thermochemical processes consist of the thermochemical conversion of solid and gaseous carbonaceous feedstocks into syngas as well as metal oxides reduction into metal commodities utilizing concentrated solar energy to drive endothermic chemical reactions, thereby enabling intermittent solar energy storage into solar fuels and avoiding CO2 emissions. This work aims to experimentally investigate three key solar thermochemical conversion approaches regarding biomass gasification, chemical looping reforming of methane, and carbothermal reduction of ZnO and MgO. Solar gasification and solar chemical looping reforming allowed valorizing wood biomass and methane into syngas, while solar carbothermal reduction was applied to produce Zn and Mg from ZnO and MgO. Such solar thermochemical processes were performed in 1.5 kWth prototype solar chemical reactors, utilizing highly concentrated sunlight provided by a solar concentrator at PROMES laboratory, Odeillo, France. The impact of controlling parameters of each process on the reaction mechanism, conversion, yields, and process performance, during on-sun testing was investigated and evaluated thoroughly. Such processes were proved to significantly improve the chemical conversion, syngas yields, energy efficiency, with solar energy storage into transportable fuels, thereby outperforming the conventional processes. Moreover, their feasibility, reliability, and robustness in converting both methane and biomass feedstocks to syngas as well as producing Mg and Zn metals in batch and continuous operation under vacuum and atmospheric conditions during on-sun operation were successfully demonstrated.

La pyrogazéification est un procédé de conversion thermochimique prometteur pour la valorisation énergétique des biomasses et des déchets. Ce procédé conduit à la production d’un vecteur énergétique gazeux appelé « syngas » composé principalement de CO et d’H2 mais contenant également de nombreux polluants issus des déchets entrants et/ou générés au cours de la conversion. En fonction de sa pureté, le syngas peut être valorisé dans de nombreuses applications. Cependant, la formation simultanée de résidus solides (chars) sans voie de valorisation, ainsi que le coût élevé de l'étape de purification du syngas freinent le développement industriel de cette filière. Cette thèse s'intéresse à ces deux problématiques en étudiant la valorisation des chars de pyrolyse, avec ou sans adjonction de fonctions chimiques, comme adsorbants et catalyseurs pour la purification du syngas. Dans cette étude, les chars ont été produits par pyrolyse de déchets générés sur des navires de croisière et générés en quantités importantes par les sociétés modernes : Bois de Palettes Usagées, Boues de Coagulation-Floculation et Déchets Alimentaires. Une séquence de caractérisations multi-échelle a été mise en place afin de relier les caractéristiques physico-chimiques des chars aux conditions de production ainsi qu’à la nature des déchets entrants. Les chars résultants du mélange BF/DA montrent une composition chimique riche en espèces minérales tandis que les chars produits à partir de BPU sont des matériaux très majoritairement composés de carbone. L’activation à la vapeur ne modifie pas significativement la composition des chars, mais permet de développer efficacement leur porosité. L’étude s’est ensuite intéressée aux relations existant entre les propriétés physico-chimiques des chars et leur efficacité épuratoire. La capacité d’épuration d’H2S des matériaux s’est trouvée significativement améliorée par des surfaces spécifiques élevées, de hautes teneurs en espèces minérales et un pH de surface basique. Les propriétés les plus influentes pour l’activité catalytique des chars pour le craquage des goudrons (l’éthylbenzène et le benzène sont pris comme références) en gaz légers sont : la présence d’espèces minérales, la porosité et la présence de structures carbonées désordonnées dans la matrice du char. / The pyrogasification is a thermochemical process that consists in converting biomass and/or waste into a gaseous energy carrier named syngas. This syngas is mainly composed of H2 and CO but also contains many pollutants (such as tars, H2S, HCl, particles…) that must be removed before further utilization of the syngas (electricity and heat production, synthesis of biofuel or chemicals…). The production of solid residues (chars) and the cost of the syngas purification process jeopardize the industrial development of this process. This thesis aims at studying the in-situ valorisation of the pyrolysis chars, functionalized or not, as sorbent or catalyst for the syngas cleaning. In this study, pyrolysis chars have been produced by the pyrolysis of wastes generated on cruise-ships: Used Wood Pallets (UWP), Coagulation-Flocculation Sludge (CFS) and Food Waste (FW). A set of multi-scale characterizations has been performed in order to identify relationships between the physico-chemical properties of the chars, the production conditions and the nature of the initial biomass. Chars from the mixture of FW/CFS have high mineral contents while chars from UWP are mainly carbonaceous materials. The steam activation only slightly modifies the chemical composition of the chars but significantly increases their porosity. Then, the study focused on the relationships between the physico-chemical properties of the chars and their purification efficiency. The H2S sorption capacity was strongly improved by high surface areas, large mineral contents and alkaline pH surfaces. The most important properties for the catalytic activity of the chars for tar cracking reactions were: high mineral contents, large surface areas and the presence of disorganized carbon structures in the char.

Climate change is one of the biggest global threats of the 21st century. Fossil fuels constitute by far the most important energy source for transportation and the different governments are starting to take action to promote the use of cleaner fuels. Biomass-derived fuels are a promising alternative for diversifying fuel sources, reducing fossil fuel dependency and abating greenhouse gas emissions. The research interest has quickly shifted from first-generation biofuels, obtained from food commodities, to second-generation biofuels, produced from non-food resources. The subject of this PhD thesis is the production of second-generation biofuels via thermochemical conversion: biomass is first gasified to synthesis gas, a mixture of mainly H2 and CO; synthesis gas can then be catalytically converted to different fuels. This work summarizes six publications, which are focused on the synthesis gas conversion step. Two processes are principally examined in this summary. The first part of the PhD thesis is devoted to the synthesis of ethanol and higher alcohols, which can be used as fuel or fuel additives. The microemulsion technique is applied in the synthesis of molybdenum-based catalysts, achieving a yield enhancement. Methanol cofeeding is also studied as a way of boosting the production of longer alcohols, but a negative effect is obtained: the main outcome of methanol addition is an increase in methane production. The second part of the PhD thesis addresses wax hydroconversion, an essential upgrading step in the production of middle-distillate fuels via Fischer-Tropsch. Bifunctional catalysts consisting of noble metals supported on silica-alumina are considered. The deactivation of a platinum-based catalyst is investigated, sintering and coking being the main causes of decay. A comparison of platinum and palladium as catalyst metal function is also carried out, obtaining a fairly different catalytic performance of the materials in terms of conversion and selectivity, very likely due to dissimilar hydrogenation power of the metals. Finally, a kinetic model based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson formalism is proposed to describe the hydroconversion reactions, attaining a good fitting of the experimental data. / Klimatförändringarna är ett av de största globala hoten under det tjugoförsta århundradet. Fossila bränslen utgör den helt dominerande energikällan för transporter och många länder börjar stödja användning av renare bränslen. Bränslen baserade på biomassa är ett lovande alternativ för att diversifiera råvarorna, reducera beroendet av fossila råvaror och undvika växthusgaser. Forskningsintresset har snabbt skiftat från första generationens biobränslen som erhölls från mat-råvaror till andra generationens biobränslen producerade från icke ätbara-råvaror. Ämnet för denna doktorsavhandling är produktion av andra generationens biobränslen via termokemisk omvandling. Biomassa förgasas först till syntesgas, en blandning av i huvudsak vätgas och kolmoxid; syntesgasen kan sedan katalytiskt omvandlas till olika bränslen. Detta arbete sammanfattar sex publikationer som fokuserar på steget för syntesgasomvandling. Två processer är i huvudsak undersökta i denna sammanfattning. Den första delen av doktorsavhandlingen ägnas åt syntes av etanol och högre alkoholer som kan användas som bränsle eller bränsletillsatser. Mikroemulsionstekniken har använts vid framställningen av molybden-baserade katalysatorer, vilket gav en höjning av utbytet. Tillsatsen av metanol har också studerats som ett sätt att försöka få en högre koncentration av högre alkoholer, men en negativ effekt erhölls: huvudeffekten av metanoltillsatsen är en ökad metanproduktion. Den andra delen av doktorsavhandlingen handlar om vätebehandling av vaxer som ett viktigt upparbetningssteg vid framställning av mellandestillat från Fischer-Tropsch processen. Bifunktionella katalysatorer som består av ädelmetaller deponerade på silica-alumina valdes. Deaktiveringen av en platinabaserad katalysator undersöktes. Sintring och koksning var huvudorsakerna till deaktiveringen. En jämförelse mellan platina och palladium som funktionella metaller genomfördes också med resultatet att det var en ganska stor skillnad mellan materialens katalytiska egenskaper vilket gav olika omsättning och selektivitet, mycket sannolikt beroende på olika reaktionsmönster hos metallerna vid vätebehandling. Slutligen föreslås en kinetisk modell baserad på en Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson modell för att beskriva reaktionerna vid vätebehandling. Denna modell ger en god anpassning till experimentella data. / El cambio climático es una de las mayores amenazas del siglo XXI. Los combustibles fósiles constituyen actualmente la fuente de energía más importante para el transporte, por lo que los diferentes gobiernos están empezando a tomar medidas para promover el uso de combustibles más limpios. Los combustibles derivados de biomasa son una alternativa prometedora para diversificar las fuentes de energía, reducir la dependencia de los combustibles fósiles y disminuir las emisiones de efecto invernadero. Los esfuerzos de los investigadores se han dirigido en los últimos años a los biocombustibles de segunda generación, producidos a partir de recursos no alimenticios. El tema de esta tesis de doctorado es la producción de biocombustibles de segunda generación mediante conversión termoquímica: en primer lugar, la biomasa se gasifica y convierte en gas de síntesis, una mezcla formada mayoritariamente por hidrógeno y monóxido de carbono; a continuación, el gas de síntesis puede transformarse en diversos biocombustibles. Este trabajo resume seis publicaciones, centradas en la etapa de conversión del gas de síntesis. Dos procesos se estudian con mayor detalle. En la primera parte de la tesis se investiga la producción de etanol y alcoholes largos, que pueden ser usados como combustible o como aditivos para combustible. La técnica de microemulsión se aplica en la síntesis de catalizadores basados en molibdeno, consiguiendo un incremento del rendimiento. Además, se introduce metanol en el sistema de reacción para intentar aumentar la producción de alcoholes más largos, pero los efectos obtenidos son negativos: la principal consecuencia es el incremento de la producción de metano. La segunda parte de la tesis estudia la hidroconversión de cera, una etapa esencial en la producción de destilados medios mediante Fischer-Tropsch. Los catalizadores estudiados son bifuncionales y consisten en metales nobles soportados en sílice-alúmina. La desactivación de un catalizador de platino se investiga, siendo la sinterización y la coquización las principales causas del problema. El uso de platino y paladio como componente metálico se compara, obteniendo resultados catalíticos bastante diferentes, tanto en conversión como en selectividad, probablemente debido a su diferente capacidad de hidrogenación. Finalmente, se propone un modelo cinético, basado en el formalismo de Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson, que consigue un ajuste satisfactorio de los datos experimentales. / <p>QC 20160308</p>

Des applications avancées, telles que la production catalytique de combustibles liquides, demande un gaz de synthèse de haute pureté. La biomasse semble être une matière première prometteuse, mais le gaz doit être nettoyé de façon drastique pour atteindre les spécifications. Le reformage à haute température (> 1300 K) est une alternative crédible à la voie catalytique. La cinétique de reformage à haute température dans une atmosphère réductrice est mal connue. Si des mécanismes détaillés existent déjà pour la combustion d'hydrocarbures, les réactions sensibles sont différentes dans ce cas. Une étude expérimentale en réacteur piston et une modélisation du vapocraquage d'hydrocarbures ont été réalisées. L'influence cinétique des gaz présents dans le gaz de synthèse sur la conversion des hydrocarbures a été étudiée. Le comportement de mélanges complexes représentatifs des gaz à traiter a été étudié en fonction de la température. L’espèce la plus difficile à reformer est le méthane : une température supérieure à 1700 K est nécessaire. Un modèle dérivé de celui de la combustion des hydrocarbures légers a été élaboré. Les tendances expérimentales sont bien reproduites. Le reformage du carbone se fait principalement par réaction des radicaux OH avec les C₂ insaturés, précurseurs de suie. Les conditions nécessaires pour reformer le méthane à haute température sont également donc favorables à la formation de suies indésirables / Advanced applications, such as catalytic production of liquid fuels, request a high quality synthesis gas. Biomass may be a promising feedstock but the syngas needs to be drastically cleaned to reach the specifications. The high temperature homogeneous reforming (> 1300 K) seems a credible alternative to the catalytic way. The reforming kinetic at high temperatures in a reducing atmosphere has to be understood. If detailed mechanisms already exist for the combustion of hydrocarbons, sensitive reactions are different in this case. An experimental and modelling study of the steam cracking of small hydrocarbons have been performed. The experiments have been done in a plug flow reactor under atmospheric pressure. The kinetic influence of different gases of the syngas on the hydrocarbons conversion has been investigated. The behaviour of representative complex mixtures has been also studied as a function of the temperature. The most difficult species to reform is methane: temperature as high as 1700 K is necessary. A model derived from that for the combustion of light hydrocarbons was developed. The experimental trends are well reproduced. Carbon reforming appends mainly by reaction of OH radicals with unsaturated C₂ molecules, which are soot precursors. Process conditions necessary for high temperature methane reforming would then be favourable to undesirable soot formation

Master of Science / Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering / Wenqiao Yuan / Gasification is an efficient way to produce energy from biomass, which has significant positive impacts on the environment, domestic economy, national energy security, and the society in general. In this study, a lab-scale updraft biomass gasifier was designed, built, and instrumented for stable gasification using low-bulk density biomass. Related accessories, such as a biomass feeder, inlet air temperature controller, air injection nozzle, and tar cracking system, were also developed to enhance gasifier performance. The effect of operation parameters on gasifier performance was studied. Two operational parameters, including air flow rate and feed-air temperature, were studied on three sources of biomass: prairie hay, sorghum biomass, and wood chips. Results showed that higher air flow rate increased tar contents in syngas for all three types. It was also found that different biomasses gave significantly different tar contents, in the order of wood chips>sorghum biomass>prairie hay. Feed-air temperature did not have a significant effect on tar content in syngas except for prairie hay, where higher feed air temperature reduced tar. A statistical model was implemented to study differences on syngas composition. Results showed that different biomasses produced syngas with different high heating value, e.g., wood chips > prairie hay > sorghum biomass. CO composition also showed differences by feed air temperature and biomass, e.g. prairie hay>wood chips>sorghum biomass, but H[subscript]2 did not show significant differences by either biomass type or operating conditions. Moreover, because of the downstream problems caused by tars in syngas such as tar condensation in pipelines, blockage and machinery collapse, an in-situ tar cracking system was developed to remove tars in syngas. The tar cracking device was built in the middle of the gasifier’s combustion using gasification heat to drive the reactions. The in-situ system was found to be very effective in tar removal and syngas enhancement. The highest tar removal of 95% was achieved at 0.3s residence time and 10% nickel loading. This condition also gave the highest syngas HHV increment of 36% (7.33 MJ/m[superscript]3). The effect of gas residence time and Ni loading on tar removal and syngas composition was also studied. Gas residence of 0.2-0.3s and Ni loading of 10% were found appropriate in this study.

Numerical simulations of coal gasification process inside a generic 2-stage entrainedflow gasifier are carried out using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS/FLUENT. The 3-D Navier-Stokes equations and eight species transport equations are solved with three heterogeneous global reactions, three homogeneous reactions, and one thermal cracking equation of volatiles. Finite rates are used for the heterogeneous solid-gas reactions. Both finite rate and eddy-breakup combustion models are calculated for each homogeneous gas-gas reaction, and the smaller of the two rates is used. Lagrangian-Eulerian method is employed. The Eulerian method calculates the continuous phase while the Lagrangian method tracks each coal particle. Fundamental study is carried out to investigate effects of five turbulence models (standard k-ε, k-ω, RSM, k-ω SST, and k-ε RNG) and four devolatilization models (Kobayashi, single rate, constant rate, and CPD) on gasification simulation. A study is also conducted to investigate the effects of different operation parameters on gasification process including coal mixture (dry vs. slurry), oxidant (oxygen-blown vs. air-blown), and different coal distributions between two stages. Finite-rate model and instantaneous gasification model are compared. It is revealed that the instantaneous gasification approach can provide an overall evaluation of relative changes of gasifier performance in terms of temperature, heating value, and gasification efficiency corresponding to parametric variations, but not adequately capture the local gasification process predicted by the finite rate model in most part of the gasifier. Simulations are performed to help with design modifications of a small industrial demonstration entrained-flow gasifier. It is discovered that the benefit of opening the slag tap on the quench-type gasifier wider by allowing slag to move successfully without clogging is compromised by increased heat losses, reduced gasification performance, downgraded syngas heating value, and increased unburned volatiles. The investigation of heat transfer on fuel injectors shows that blunt tip fuel injector is less likely to fail compared to conical tip fuel injector because the maximum high temperature on the injector is scattered. Two concentric fuel/oxidant injections provide better fuel-oxidant mixing and higher syngas heating value than four separate fuel and oxidant injections.

Syngas fermentation via gasification is a two-stage process, which contains gasification of feedstock into syngas and syngas bio-methanation by anaerobic microorganisms. This project is a study on syngas fermentation. The gasification feedstock can be difficult-to-degrade solid waste so; waste volumes are reduced while green energy is produced. The main target of this thesis was to study novel configurations of reverse membrane bioreactor (RMB) in order to retain microbial cells inside the digester and thereafter increase methane production. In the first experiment, microbial cells encased in PVDF sachets were proved to perform efficiently in batch mode in comparison to free cells at optimum temperature, 55 oC. Moreover, encased cells in co-digestion of syngas and organic waste exhibited higher methane amounts compared to pure syngas treatment. Encased cells were then tested in thermophilic semi-continuous process and showed better performance compared to the free cell reactor. The RMB containing encased cells retained successfully the cells during the 154 days of the experiment, while free cells were washed-out. The highest amounts of methane from RMB and the free cell reactor were produced during the 126th - 130th day (6 and 1.5 mmol/day, respectively). In the last experiment, a RMB containing 13 membrane layers of enclosed cells was studied and compared to a conventional reactor of free cells. The RMB performed successfully in syngas bio-methanation under semi-continuous conditions during 49 days. The highest methane amount produced was 10 mmol/day in both RMB and free cell reactor. / Program: Industriell bioteknik

The scope of this thesis was to study thermodynamics of lead oxide and cobalt oxide as the chemical looping agent for oxygen. Furthermore, the theoretical results were verified experimentally. Ellingham diagrams were constructed for the selected oxides. Then, detailed thermodynamic analysis was conducted for stability analysis at different temperatures and pressures. Equilibrium product compositions for various reactions involving these oxides were calculated via Gibbs free energy minimization analysis. Finally, it was shown that cobalt, lead and their oxide forms can be used for syngas production. In the experimental part PbOx, CoOx, Pt-doped CoOx and Pt-doped cobalt alumina, and mixed lead cobalt oxides were synthesized. In addition, technical grade cobalt oxide and lead rods were also used. XRD analysis indicated that Co3O4, Pb2O3 and &alpha / -PbO were the main crystal structures. Oxygen evolution from mixed oxides was monitored by TPD in a home built system. Re-oxidation of the reduced metals was successfully conducted using CO2 and H2O as oxidizing agents. Oxygen TPD studies indicated that oxygen evolution rates and amounts were higher and started at lower temperatures when two oxides were together. These observations were consistent with the predictions obtained from thermodynamics. In a series packed bed reactor, evolved oxygen from the mixed oxides were used to react with coal packed upstream of the oxides. It was found that coal oxidation can be achieved around 400oC and 600oC by using Pb/Co=3 (wt./wt.) looping media with almost no CO2 formation. It was also found that desired product selectivity (CO) can be increased by controlling reactive agent (O2) concentration in reaction environment.

Increasingly stringent emission requirements and dwindling petroleum reserves have generated interest in expanding the role of synthesis gas (syngas) fuels in power generation applications. Syngas fuels are the product of gasifying organic-based feedstock such as coal and biomass and are composed of mainly H₂ and CO. However, the use of syngas fuels in lean premixed gas turbine systems has been limited in part because the behavior of turbulent flames in these mixtures at practical gas turbine operating conditions are not well understood. This thesis presents an investigation of the influence of fuel composition and pressure on the turbulent consumption speed, ST,GC, and the turbulent flame brush thickness, FBT, for these mixtures. ST,GC and FBT are global parameters which represent the average rate of conversion of reactants to products and the average heat release distribution of the turbulent flame respectively. A comprehensive database of turbulent consumption speed measurements obtained at pressures up to 20 atm and H₂/CO ratios of 30/70 to 90/10 by volume is presented. There are two key findings from this database. First, mixtures of different H₂/CO ratios but with the same un-stretched laminar flame speeds, SL,0, exposed to the same turbulence intensities, u'rms , have different turbulent consumption speeds. Second, higher pressures augment the turbulent consumption speed when SL,0 is held constant across pressures and H₂/CO ratios. These observations are attributed to the mixture stretch sensitivities, which are incorporated into a physics-based model for the turbulent consumption speed using quasi-steady leading points concepts. The derived scaling law closely resembles Damkhler's classical turbulent flame speed scaling, except that the maximum stretched laminar flame speed, SL,max, arises as the normalizing parameter. Scaling the ST,GC data by SL,max shows good collapse of the data at fixed pressures, but systematic differences between data taken at different pressures are observed. These differences are attributed to non-quasi-steady chemistry effects, which are quantified with a Damkhler number defined as the ratio of the chemical time scale associated with SL,max and a fluid mechanic time scale. The observed scatter in the normalized turbulent consumption speed data correlates very well with this Damkhler number, suggesting that ST,GC can be parameterized by u'rms/SL,max and the leading point Damkhler number. Finally, a systematic investigation of the influence of pressure and fuel composition on the flame brush thickness is presented. The flame brush thickness is shown to be independent of the H₂/CO ratio if SL,0 is held constant across the mixtures. However, increasing the equivalence ratio for lean mixtures at a constant H₂/CO ratio, results in a thicker flame brush. Increasing the pressure is shown to augment the flame brush thickness, a result which has not been previously reported in the literature. Classical correlations based on turbulent diffusion concepts collapse the flame brush thickness data obtained at fixed u'rms/U₀ and pressure reasonably well, but systematic differences exist between the data at different u'rms/U₀ and pressures.

The interactions between laminar premixed flames and counter-rotating vortex pairs in natural and synthetic gas mixtures have been computationally investigated through the use of Direct Numerical Simulations and parallel processing. Using a computational model for premixed combustion, laminar flames are simulated for single- and two-component fuel mixtures of methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. These laminar flames are forced to interact with superimposed laminar vortex pairs, which mimic the effects of a pulsed, two-dimensional slot-injection. The premixed flames are parameterized by their unstretched laminar flame speed, heat release, and flame thickness. The simulated vortices are of a fixed size (relative to the flame thickness) and are parameterized, solely, by their rotational velocity (relative to the flame speed). Strain rate and surface curvature measurements are made along the stretched flame surfaces to study the effects of additive syngas species (CO and H2) on lean methane-air flames. For flames that share the same unstretched laminar flame speed, heat release, and flame thickness, it is observed that the effects of carbon monoxide on methane-air mixtures are essentially negigible while the effects of hydrogen are quite substantial. The dynamics of stretched CH4/Air and CH4/CO/Air flames are nearly identical to one another for interactions with both strong and weak vortices. However, the CH4/H2/Air flames demonstrate a remarkable tendency toward surface area growth. Over comparable interaction periods, the flame surface area produced during interactions with CH4/H2/Air flames was found to be more than double that of the pure CH4/Air flames. Despite several obvious differences, all of the interactions revealed the same basic phenomena, including vortex breakdown and flame pinch-off (i.e. pocket formation). In general, the strain rate and surface curvature magnitudes were found to be lower for the CH4/H2/Air flames, and comparable between CH4/Air and CH4/CO/Air flames. Rates of flame stretching are not explicitely determined, but are, instead, addressed through observation of their individual components. Two different models are used to determine local displacement speed values. A discrepancy between practical and theoretical definitions of the displacement speed is evident based on the instantaneous results for CH4/Air and CH4/H2/Air flames interacting with weak and strong vortices.