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Show MY HISTORY WORKING WITH THE IFRF By JOHN H. POHL, ENERGY INTERNATIONAL, LAGUNA WOODS, CA ABSTRACT Dr, John H. Pohl, Sc.D. has a long history working with the people who are associated with the International Flame Research Foundation (IFRF), the American Flame Research Committee (AFRC), and the Australia Flame Research Committee (AUSFRC) which are part of the IFRF. The IFRF was founded by Professor M.W. Thring of Sheffield University and Mr. J.E. de Graaf of Hoogovens steel works. Professor Hoyt Hottel was MIT representative to the AFRC. Dr. Pohl worked with Professor Hoyt Hottel when he was a graduate student at MIT. Professor Hottel passed away ca 1998. Dr. Pohl was an S.M. and ScD. (science master and Doctor of Science) student of Adel Sarofim ( passed away in ca 2010) who was Professor Hottel's student. As an Engineer Dr. Pohl worked with many students who were descents of Professor Hottel. He has met W.H. Hawthorne who is a Professor from England at Cambridge, UK. I met him, when he visited MIT during the summer. Professor Hawthorne is responsible for determining that the flame length of turbulent diffusion flames was proportional to an equation involving the heating value of the gas. This relation is used in the API 521 standard for flame length. Dr. Pohl modified the constants for this expression (he used the heating value of the gases) and used it to correlate the length of flare flames, Pohl, et al. (1982-1986). Dr. Pohl has worked with Ian Steward in Australia. Ian Steward was responsible for discovering that the combustion rate of coal had a kinetic component. Dr. Pohl developed the techniques used to measure combustion properties of coal, Pohl (1983-1986). Dr Pohl worked with one of Professor Steward students in Australia, Terry Wall of the University of Newcastle in the Black Coal Utilisation Research Organization (BCURA). He has also worked with Terry Dixon, one of Terry Wall students, at the Sugar Research Institute (SRI), in McKay, Australia. Dr. Pohl worked with Ian Steward and Terry Wall when they were all with the BCURA. Dr. Pohl worked for the University of Queensland in Saint Lucia, Queensland Australia and was BCURA coordinator for the state of Queensland. Dr. Pohl has also worked with Terry Johnson in the US at Energy and Environmental Research Company (EER) and in Melbourne, Australia. Terry Johnson worked for the Victoria Electricity Commission at that time. Dr. Pohl has meet Professor Henry Becker (another Hottel student) from the University of Ontario at MIT. He has worked with one of Professor Becker students, Peter Gogolek. Peter Gogolek works at CANMET (a Canadian government research Company near Ottawa, Ontario, 1 Canada) . Peter Gogolek lead the International Flare Consortium (IFC). Dr. Pohl was a principal investigator to the IFC and advisor to this program. Dr. Pohl has also worked with a number of people with connections to the International Flame Research Foundation (IFRF). They are listed in the order in which they worked at the IFRF. He met Janos Beer at University of Sheffield and MIT. Dr. Beer was the Director of the IFRF when it was on the Royal Dutch Shell property in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, it has since move to Livorno, Italy. Dr. Pohl worked with Norman Chigier when he was on sabbatical from University of Sheffield at Sandia National Laboratory, Livermore, CA. Dr. Chigier is now a Professor at Carienge Mellon University. Dr. Pohl has worked with Tom Lowes when he was at Blue Circle Cement in Barnstone and Gravesend, UK on control of nitrogen oxides in cement kilns. Dr. Lowes latter held a number of positions with the IFRF and (British Flame Research Committee (BFRC). Dr. Lowes eventually became Head of the British Flame Research Committee (BFRC). Professor Rudolph Quack of Stuttgart University placed many a number of his students at the IFRF. Among these students were a number of students who Dr. Pohl worked with: Siegfried Michenfielder, Stienmuller, Gummerbach, FRG, Wolfgang Richter, Energy and Environmental Research Co., Irivne, CA (Dr. Richter did not work for the IFRF, but developed the mathematical model for the IFRF and EER, Klaus Hein, Rhenish Westfalish Electric Worke (RWE) and University of Stuttgart. Dr. Pohl worked with Dr. Hein when he was at RWE in Fortuna, FRG and later at the University of Stuttgard. Dr. Pohl proposed a low nitrogen oxide burner to Stienmuller. ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I received much help in gathering material for this paper. I whish to tank those who helped me: Tom Gilmartin (BP) Tom Gilmartin (BP) suggested I write this paper at the last AFRC Meeting in Huston, 2014.. TOM LOWES (Blue CIrcle cement (retired)) and BFRC Tom Lowes held a number of positions with the IFRF. He was * Secretary to the Gas Panel while lecturer at Leeds University *Head of Research at IJmuiden *Chairman of the Coal Panel *Member of the Progarmme Executive *Chairman of the BFRC 2 *Chairman of CEMFLAME *Member of the Joint Committee *Member of IFRF restructing Task Force * President of the Joint Committee until 2000 Tom Lowes corrected many of my errors concerning the IFRF and Professor Hottel's contribution to the IFRF. He indentified Professor Hottel as forming the AFRC in 1953. Jordan Loftus (Texaco(retired) and AFRC Ex-president) Dr. Loftus was a student of Professor Satterfield who was Dr. Pohl instructor in Chemical Kinetics. Jordan Loftus provided me with a copy of his 1998 interview with Professor Hoyt Hottel. Jacques Dugue (ex-IFRF, FFRC, and Total) Jacques Dugue clarified my thinking on the French contribution to the IFRF. He pointed out that Jacques Cheadame was General Director of CERCHAR and helped set up the IFRF in 1948. Michel Riviere also from CERCHAR worked at the Experimental Station from 1949-1952. John Beer (Hungary and England ) was head of the station from 1960-1963. Norman Chiegier was an investigator at that time. Jacques Chedaikle took over as head of the station (1963-1968) following Beer. Gerard Flament was an investigator and later became head of the Experimental Station. Gerard Flament after he left the IFRF worked for several cement manufacturer in France. He retired recently from LHOIST. Dr. Flament agree to become Vice-President of the IFRF at 2012 Members Conference. Izebela Reszewicz Secretary of the IFRF Ms. Reszewicz kindly sent me Roman Weber's book, The Spirit of IJmuiden (1998). HISTORY OF THE IFRF The history of the IFRF is summarized from the IFRF web site and IFRF History (2015).The IFRF was founded in 1948 as the International Flame Research Committee. In 1955 the IFRF was register in the Netherlands. In the early days of the IFRF, it was founded by British Iron and Steel Research Association (BISRA), Iron and Steel Research of France, and Royal Dutch Iron and Steel Company (KNHS). It expanded its mission from Flame Radiation to Flame Aerodynamics and Chemistry. 3 In the 60's the IFRF started studying Combustion Aerodynamics. In the 70's the IFRF started investigating NOx Formation, Mathematical Modeling, and Contact Research. In the 80's the IFRF started investigating Coal Combustion Research and Near Field Aerodynamics . In the 90's the IFRF took up investigation of Combustion System Scaling, Numerical Simulation, and Specialized Research Facilities. Dr. JOHN H. POHL Dr. John H. Pohl has worked in 28 countries around the world. See the a partial list of locations in Table 1. Dr. Pohl has worked for Michael Heap and Roy Payne at EER. Both were IFRF investigator. Dr. Pohl has worked predominately in five areas: Coal Research needs, Design, Review and/or commissioning of fuels evaluation furnaces, Combustion properties of Fossil Fuels, mainly coal, Biomass Combustion, and Control of emissions from combustion processes. Table 1. Work Location Throughout the World. Coal Research Needs Denmark Copenhagen Estonia Tallinn (U. Tallinn) Finland Helsinki (IFRF Conference) France Criel (Cherchar) Germany Bochum (Coal Use U. of) 4 Essen (Bergbaugh Forshen, Stienekole, and VGB) Fortuna (RWE, Brown Coal Use) Stuttgart (U. of, Coal Research) Coal Furnace Australia Queensland Ipswich, Australia Coal Industry Research Laboratory Victoria Melbourne, Herman Research Laboratory Canada Fredericton, New Brunswick Electric Power United Kingdom Chester (Shell) Stoke Orchard (BUCRA) United States Texas (Bay Town, Exxon) Coal Evaluation Australia New South Wales Black Water BMI Lemington BMI Stratford BMI 5 Wards River BMI Queensland Acland Blackwater BMI Blair Athol BMI Blend Boundary Hill Burton Callide Clermont Coppabella Curragh Ensham Ebenezer Jeebropilly Jellinbah Kogan Creek Lake Vermont Meandu Moura Newlands North Goonyella 6 Oaky Creek Saraji South Walker Creek Taroom Valeria Wilkie Creek Yarrabee New South Wales BMI Blends Black Water BMI Lemington BMI Stratford BMI Wards River BMI Western Australia Colie (Muja Power, Western Electric Power Commission) South Australia Leigh Creek (South Australia Electric Power Commission) Canada New Brunswick Avon (Chatham) Devco (Cape Breton) Alberta 7 Byron Creek Line Creek Obed Mountain Smokey River Federal Republic Germany Saar Indonesia Borneo, Kalamantan Malaysia Johor Bharu (ESP Performance of Ensham Coal) South Africa BP Coal United States Alabama Rosa Sparwood Coloardo Anaconda (CWS) Anaconda (28, 45 Mesh, CWS) ARCO (ROM and Dried) Danforth Hills 8 Green River West Elk Illinois Illinois # 4 Illinois B&W Illinois B&W, Trimex Indiana Indiana # 2 North Dakota Beulah, Fort Union, Mercer County Lignite New Mexico/Arizona Fruitland Fence Lake Four Corners (SCE) Lee Ranch La Plata 1 La Plata 2 PNM San Juan Blends Pennsylvania Keystone (CWS) 9 Homer City (ROM) Homer City (clean) Homer City (Sorbent) United Kingdom Barnstone (Blue Circle Cement) Utah Utah 1 Washington Centrailia Wyoming Hanna FLARE PERFORMANCE Australia Queensland Brisbane City Council Landfill Gas Flare Taroom Central Queensland Canada Ottawa (IFC Research) Kuwait Kuwait City (Oil Well Fires( United States California 10 Irvine (EER, EPA) Colorado Petroleum Waste Gases North Dakota Fracking Waste Gas EMISSION FROM COMBUSTION SOURCES England Branstone, Gravesends (NOx Emission from Cement Kilns) Germany Gummerbach (Low NOx Burner) Taiwan Hsin-Chu (Low NOx Burner) Kao-hsiung (Test of Low NOx Burner) France Criel (Cherchar) Federal Republic of Germany Dresden (GRD, East Germany) Essen (Stienkole, Bergbaugh Froschen) Fortuna (RWE) Stuttgart (U. Stuttgart) Yanchwald (East, Brown Coal Fired Boiler) Netherlands Amsterdam (IFRF Conference) 11 properties of a radiating industrial flame cannot be investigated at small scale so the founders needed a large construable flame. Professor Hottel studied radiation in a series of small flames that were lined up to form a long path length. Figure 1. shows a figure used to estimate the radiation from flames. Figure 1. Professor Hottel's Emissivity Chart for CO2, Hottel and Sarofim (1967). 12 HOTTLE ( DECEASED) STDUENTS AND THEIR STUDENT This information is summarized from Loftus (1998). By 1940 Professor Hottel was an acknowledged expert in flame radiation. During world war II, Professor Hottel was section Chief of the National Defense Research Committee responsible for combustion related weapons, such as Fire Bombs and Flame Throwers. As Chief he visited England and met Professor Thring from BCURA (British Coal Utilization Association). !n 1946, Standard Oil Development Company (Now EXXON Resarch and Engineering Co., New Jersey) send a paper by Dr. Thring to Professor Hottel. In 1950, Standard Oil Development Co. requested Professor Hottel review Professor Thring's paper and Professor Hottel then went to England to meet with Dr. Thring and Mr. Elliot to discuss the potential radiation project. Professor Thring accompied Professor Hottel to Paris to meet with professor Ribaud. Professor Hottel then went to IJmuiden where he asked de Graf if he would like any American cooperation. de Graaf replied, not yet. In 1950 the Joint Committee sent letters to Professor Hottel and Professor Schmit of the Ferderal Republis of Germany asking them to form National Committees. In 1951 degraaf went to America and visited Professor Hottel. Professor Hottel ask if de Graaf wanted formal American cooperation. de Graaf responded yes. A month later Ralph Sherman of Battelle Memorial Institute formed a group to solicit money for the AFRC. Hottel and Sherman resolved formation of one commitee was resolved at the first meeting of the AFRC in Pittsburgh, PA. PROFESSOR HOTTEL STUDENTS Professor Hottel had a number of students that have contributed to the research on flame properties. A number of these students have also contributed to the work at the IFRF. Of particular interest are: * William Hawthorne, Cambridge, UK * Ian Steward, University of Newcastle, Australia * Henry Becker, University of Ontario, Canada * Adel Sarofim (deseased), MIT, University of Utah A number of these Hottel student went on to have students of their own who contributed to combustion science. * William Hawthorne - Developed the API 521 technique to estimate flame length, Fig. 2. 13 Heat Release (BTU/Hr) Figure 2. Hottel and Hawthorne (1949) Flame Length Correlation as Modified by Pohl (1985). * Ian Steward - Discover that coal combustion had a kinetic component - Professor of Professor Terry wall, University of Newcastle * Henry Becker - Professor of Peter Gogolek, CANMET, Ontario, Canada * Adel Sarofim (decased) - Professor of Dr. John Pohl, MIT, University of Queensland, Austraiia, Virgina Tech, number of Research and Development Companies * Established the influence of partial equilibrium on NOx formation, Pohl ( 1973) * Established the contribution and rate of coal nitrogen contribution to NOx, Pohl (1976) 14 * Established the EPA standards for emission from flares. Pohl (1972, 1974, 1976) WORK WITH THE IFRF Dr. Pohl has worked with a number of people who worked for the IFRF at one time. His initial contact with the IFRF came from his association with Professor Hoyt Hottel and Dr. Mike Heap. Mike was a former investigator at the IFRF under Tom Lowes. He became vice-president of Energy an Environmental Research Corporation (EER) after he left the IFRF. Professor Hoyt Hottel Hoyt Hottel was on Dr. Pohl advisory committee and the supervisor of Dr. Pohl thesis advisor, Adel Sarofim, was one of Professor Hottel's Doctoral Students. PROFESSOR JANOS BEER Dr. Pohl had a number of contacts with Professor Janos Beer, former Director of the IFRF. These contacts took place at a number of institutes at which Professor Beer was a professor Pennsylvania State University, Sheffield University, and MIT. Professor Beer was a supervisor of Hisashi Kobayashi who did the experimental studies for his thesis with Dr. Pohl. PROFESSOR NORMAN CHIGIER Dr. Pohl met Professor Norman Chigier when he spent his sabbatical at Sandia National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. Dr. Pohl worked at Sandia National Laboratory at that time. They cooperated on the combustion properties of coal at that time. Dr. Pohl also met Professor Chigier at Sheffield University, UK. Together, they explored needed coal research at the time. Professor Chigier is now at Carnige Mellon University in Pittsburg, PA. Dr. TOMMAS LOWES Dr. Lowes was a doctor's student of Professor Thring at Leeds University. Dr. Pohl was put in touch with Dr. Lowes by Michael Heap who worked for Dr. Lowes at the IFRF. At that time, Dr. Lowes worked at Blue Circle Cement Research Facilities in Barnstone, UK. Dr. Pohl and Dr. Lowes discussed ways to control NOx in cement kilns. Dr. Pohl later visited Dr. Lowes at Gravesend, UK, a Blue Circle Cement Co. cement production plant in Kent, UK. Dr. Lowes and Dr. Pohl discussed techniques of cement manufacture at the plant in Gravesend, UK. Dr. Lowes held these positions with the FRF: 15 Secretary of the Gas Panel Head of Research Chairman of the Coal Panel Member of the Program Executive Committee Chairman of CEMFLAME Member of IFRF Resturing Task Force President of Joint Committee Dr. MICHAEL HEAP Dr. Pohl worked for Dr. Heap at EER in Irvine, CA. Dr. Heap worked at EER, which Dr. Heap founded with Tom founded EER. Dr. Heap later founded Reaction Engineering in Salt Lake City, Dr. Roy Payne Dr. Pohl worked directly for Dr. Payne at EER. Dr. Pohl was director of Fossil Fuels at EER. PROFESSOR RUDOLPH QUACK Professor Rudolph Quack was Director of The Combustion Laboratory at the University of Stuttgart in Federal Republic of Germany. Dr. Pohl visited the Combustion Laboratory and discussed needed research in coal combustion. He also met Professor Quack on a cruise at an IFRF dinner at a conference in the Netherlands. On the cruise Professor Quack insisted their previous discussion continue. Professor Quack sent a number of students to work at IFRF at IJnuiden in the Netherlands. These students included: * Siegfried Michenfelder * Wolfgang Richter * Klaus Hien Dr. SIEGFRIED MICHENFELDER Dr. Siegfried Michenfelder started as an investigator at IJmuiden in the Netherlands. He may have become Director of the station later. He went to work for Steinmueller, a boiler manufactor, in Gummerbach, Federal Republic of Germany. Dr. Pohl visited Steinmuller to discuss research needed in coal research. He also visited Steinmuller to discuss a low NOx 16 burner he helped the Taiwanese develop. Dr. Michelfelder later became President of Steinmuller. Dr, Pohl worked with an exmployee of Steinmuller on commissioning a new boiler in Johor Bharu, Malaysia. The ex-employee worked for a different consulting company that had been hired to commission a new 750 MWe in Malaysia. Dr. Pohl was working for Ensham Coal, an Australian Coal company. The particulate emission was deemed excessive. Dr. Pohl and Peter Tait, one of Dr. Pohl former student at the University of Queensland collected samples of fly ash emission and pulverized coal and analyzed these sample for particulate size and chemical composition. They checked the results against a number of hypotheses. The most likely hypotheses was that the opacity meter was miss-calibrated using Indonesia and South African coals. Dr. WOLFGANG RICHTER (DECEASED) Dr. Richter developed the mathematical model of combustion for the IFRF. He then went to work as a molder for EER, run at the time by Dr. Michael Heap, previously an investigator at the IFRF. Dr. Pohl worked with Dr. Richter at EER in Irvine, CA, USA. Dr. Richter did molding for Dr. Pohl's data on combustion properties of coal. Dr. Richter models also served as the basic model for Reaction Engineering. Dr. Richter also worked on modeling for the CARB (California Air Resources Board) Dr. Klaus Hein Dr. Klaus Hein worked as an investigator at the IFRF Station in IJmuiden, at the same time Dr. Richter developed his model, Dr. Hein then went to work for Rhenish Westfalish Electric Worke (RWE) in Federal Republic of Germany (FRD). Dr. Pohl visited Dr. Hein in Fortuna, FRD at Fortuna. They discussed the needed research in coal. Dr. Hein left RWE and became a Professor at the University of Stuttgart and Director of the Combustion Laboratory and an administrator at the University of Stuttgart. He was in charge of the Laboratory which Professor Quack previously ran. Dr. Pohl also met and discussed the coal research that the Black Coal Utilisation Research Association (BCURA) was doing in Australia. At the time, Dr. Pohl was a Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Queenslands and Coordinator for the State of Queensland for BCURA. 17 PETER ROBERTS Peter Roberts was superintendent of the IFRF experimental station on the Royal Dutch Shell site in IJmuiden, Holland. Dr. Pohl met with Peter several times. They discussed research needed in a number of combustion fields, including the measuring of the combustion properties of fuels and pollution control of these fuels. ROMAN WEBER In the same time period, Dr. Pohl met and discussed the same topics with Dr. Roman Weber, assistant superintend at the IFRF in IJmuiden, Holland. Dr. Weber is currently teaching at the Universate of Clauswitz in FGR. His book, The Fifty Years of the IFRF, was used to help Dr. Pohl's memory of the IFRF. REFERENCES Weber, R. International Flame Research Foundation, The Sprit of Ijmuiden, Fifty Years of The IFRF, 1948-1998, International Flame Research Foundation, 1998. Chang, I., Thread of the Silkworm, Basic Books, New York, NY (1995). Hottel, H.C. and W.R. Hawthorne, Third Symposium (International) on Combustion, The William and Wilkins Company, P.254, 1949. Hottel, H.C. and A.F. Sarofim, Radiative Transfer, McGraw-HIll Book Company, NY (1967). Loftus,J., Interview with H. C. Hottel, Private Communication, 14 January 1998. Pohl, John H., Kinetics of Nitric Oxide and Carbon Monoxide in Combustion System, S.M. Thesis, MIT, 1973. Sarofim A.F. and J.H. Pohl, Kinetics of Nitric Oxide Formation in Premixed Laminar Flames, Symp. (Int.) Combust., Proc. 14th, (1976). Pohl, J.H., Fate of Coal Nitrogen, Sc. D. Thesis, MIT, June 1976. Pohl, J. H. and A.F. Sarofim, Devolatilization and Oxidation of Coal Nitrogen, Sump. (Inte) on Combust., Proc. 16th, 1976. Joseph, D., J. Lee, C. McKinnon, R. Payne, J. Pohl, Evaluation of the Efficiency of Industrial Flares use to Destory Waste Gases, EPA Contract 68-02-3661, (1982). Pohl, J.H., R. Payne. and J.Lee, Evaluation of the Efficiency of Industrial Flares : Test Results, EPA Contract 68/2-84-095, May 1984. 18 Pohl, J.H. and N.R. Soelberg, Evaluation of the Efficiency of Industrial Flares: Flare Head Design and Gas Composition, EPA Contract 600/2-85, September 1985. Pohl, J.H. and N.R. Soelberg, Evaluation of the Efficiency of Industrial Flares: H2S Gas Mixtures and Pilot Assisted Flares, EPA Contract 600/2-85, September 1986. 19 |