Home

Modelling energy systems is carried out within the Energy Technology and Programs Sector of Natural Resources Canada, a department of the Federal Government of Canada. We are an integral part of the CanmetENERGY research centre in Ottawa, a facility that is home to energy research and development and pilot scale experimental equipment.

Our mandate is to carry out research and development on energy-related issues in power generation and industrial processes for Canada and its strategic partners. The key issues are performance optimization, operational problems, risk assessment, efficiency, emission reduction, and development of new technologies.

Our approach is to develop and apply theory, in collaboration with experimental and industrial measurement. This involves computational modelling techniques from small to large scale: from density functional theory of atomic interactions to computational fluid dynamics modeling of combustion in furnaces to industrial process modeling.

We carry out a variety of collaborative research and development activities:

• Studies of combustion, heat transfer, and fluid flow in utility boilers and industrial processes
• Studies of NOx, particulate, CO, and other pollutant formation and emission
• Development and validation of combustion and pollutant formation models in pilot scale furnaces
• Development and validation of gasification models in pilot scale gasifiers
• Development of burner design concepts
• Studies of material properties and reactivity and their relationship to the atomic structure
• Fundamental studies of issues related to energy conversion: radiant heat transfer, diffusion in micro-scale pores, and turbulence

Last updated: March 6, 2009