Sophia Haussener

Biography

Sophia Haussener is an Associate Professor heading the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Her current research is focused on providing design guidelines for thermal, thermochemical, and photoelectrochemical energy conversion reactors through multi-physics modeling. Her research interests include: thermal sciences, fluid dynamics, charge transfer, electro-magnetism, and thermo/electro/photochemistry in complex multi-phase media on multiple scales. She received her MSc (2007) and PhD (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from ETH Zurich. Between 2011 and 2012, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint Center of Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) and the Energy Environmental Technology Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). She has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. She has been awarded the ETH medal (2011), the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation award (2011), the ABB Forschungspreis (2012), the Prix Zonta (2015), the Global Change Award (2017), and the Raymond Viskanta Award (2019), and is a recipient of a Starting Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (2014). She is a deputy leader in the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER) on energy storage and acts as a Member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Helmholtz Zentrum.

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The students assess and compare all renewable energy resources, their real potentials, limitations and best applications (energy services). Solar thermal, solar electric, wood, bioliquids, biogas, hydropower incl. tidal and wave power, wind, geothermal incl. heat pumps and buildings.

The course will deepen the fundamentals of heat transfer. Particular focus will be put on radiative and convective heat transfer, and computational approaches to solve complex, coupled heat transfer problems.

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People doing similar research

Assessment of the technological viability of photoelectrochemical devices for oxygen and fuel production on Moon and Mars

Sophia Haussener

Human deep space exploration is presented with multiple challenges, such as the reliable, efficient and sustainable operation of life support systems. The production and recycling of oxygen, carbon dioxide (CO2) and fuels are hereby key, as a resource resupply will not be possible. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) devices are investigated for the light-assisted production of hydrogen and carbon-based fuels from CO2 within the green energy transition on Earth. Their monolithic design and the sole reliance on solar energy makes them attractive for applications in space. Here, we establish the framework to evaluate PEC device performances on Moon and Mars. We present a refined Martian solar irradiance spectrum and establish the thermodynamic and realistic efficiency limits of solar-driven lunar water-splitting and Martian carbon dioxide reduction (CO2R) devices. Finally, we discuss the technological viability of PEC devices in space by assessing the performance combined with solar concentrator devices and explore their fabrication via in-situ resource utilization.

2023

Sunlight-powered catalytic conversion of CO2 and (green) H2 into fuels and chemicals via Sabatier and reverse water gas shift (RWGS) processes offers a promising solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy utilization. The success of this approach relies on the development of efficient catalysts and reactors. Prior research on reactor design is based on fixed-bed concepts using conventional transition metal thermocatalysts that typically require high-temperature activation. The utilization of photothermal catalysts yields fast reaction kinetics and enhanced product selectivity at relatively low temperatures, and, therefore, requires new design and operational guidelines. A comprehensive steady-state model is described to assess the performance of solar-driven photothermal catalytic Sabatier and RWGS processes, with an emphasis on the development of a 1D heat and mass transfer model for a plate-shaped transparent flow reactor. The model allows for the prediction of the temperature profile, pressure drop and reaction extent along the reactor channel, CO2 and H2 conversion, total fuel yield, as well as system efficiency for a variety of design and operational choices. The effects of these parameters are strongly coupled, and a low packed bed porosity of 40% combined with high gas inlet pressure at 18-20 bar leads to both, high fuel yield and high system efficiency, for both the Sabatier and RWGS processes. The maximum system efficiency is predicted via simultaneous optimization of relevant variables within meaningful ranges while also respecting the practical temperature constraints of both the glass and catalysts. Compared with the baseline case, the optimized scenario achieves higher efficiencies of 26.3% (vs 6.7%) and 10.1% (vs 5.4%) for the Sabatier and RWGS processes, respectively, at 20 kW/m2 irradiance. The model also identifies optimal reactor conditions under different concentrated solar irradiance, thus offering design and operational guidelines for solar-driven catalytic conversion of CO2 and H2 processes.

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2023

Kilowatt-scale solar hydrogen production system using a concentrated integrated photoelectrochemical device

Sophia Haussener, Isaac Thomas Holmes-Gentle, Clemens Gregor Suter, Saurabh Yuvraj Tembhurne

The production of synthetic fuels and chemicals from solar energy and abundant reagents offers a promising pathway to a sustainable fuel economy and chemical industry. For the production of hydrogen, photoelectrochemical or integrated photovoltaic and electrolysis devices have demonstrated outstanding performance at the lab scale, but there remains a lack of larger-scale on-sun demonstrations (>100 W). Here we present the successful scaling of a thermally integrated photoelectrochemical device—utilizing concentrated solar irradiation—to a kW-scale pilot plant capable of co-generation of hydrogen and heat. A solar-to-hydrogen device-level efficiency of greater than 20% at an H2 production rate of >2.0 kW (>0.8 g min −1) is achieved. A validated model-based optimization highlights the dominant energetic losses and predicts straightforward strategies to improve the system-level efficiency of >5.5% towards the device-level efficiency. We identify solutions to the key technological challenges, control and operation strategies and discuss the future outlook of this emerging technology.

2023

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2023