Yukun Hu

Background

Dr Yukun Hu joined the Complex Systems Research Centre in the School of Management at  Cranfield University as a Senior Research Fellow in March 2017. He received his MSc degree in Chemical Engineering with distinction from the South China University of Technology & Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer Enhancement and Energy Conservation of Education Ministry in July 2007, and received his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden, in February 2013. After PhD study, he continued his academic career at the University of South Wales as a Postdoc Research Assistant until November 2015. Then he moved to the University of Warwick and worked at the Power and Control Systems Laboratory in the School of Engineering as a Research Fellow until February 2017. He has experience in a wide range of modelling methods such as molecular dynamics, process simulation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), zone modelling, agent based modelling and artificial intelligence techniques including neural networks and genetic algorithms. His industrial experience includes the application of advanced mathematic models to the process control and optimisation of engineering systems. He has published over 20 articles and a book chapter in these research areas (Citations: 318; H-index: 10; i-10 index: 10, https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/people/dr-yukun-hu-16959944).

Current activities

EPSRC - OPTEMIN Project

Mainly work on reducing energy demand in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. To understand the major technical, operational and economic issues associated with the acquisition and analysis of large energy data; use this data to gain insights into the complex energy networks, their interactions and impacts in large industrial manufacturing facilities; evaluate the performance of new innovative energy demand reduction and energy conversion technologies using data from demonstration installations; investigate drivers and business models that can facilitate their full development and commercialisation; as well as develop methodologies and tools to optimise individual process design, whole site energy integration and management and evaluate their decarbonisation potential within the context of Government policies and decarbonisation roadmaps to 2050.

EU Horizon 2020 Programme - CRYOHUB

The innovation of this project is investigating and extending the potential of large-scale cryogenic energy storage (CES) using renewable energy sources, and will be applying the stored energy for cooling, energy use and feed-in to the grid. The idea is that off-peak or low-cost electricity is used to liquefy air, that is then stored in an energy dense cold liquid form. When electricity is required, the cold liquid air is pumped to increased its pressure, super-heated in a heat exchange using either ambient or low-grade waste heat and then expanded through a turbine generating useful electricity.

Research Interests:

1. CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technologies.

2. Energy process simulation, analysis, and optimisation.

3. Application of computer tomography and reconstruction technology.

4. Combustion and heat transfer in high temperature energy equipment and processes.

5. Applications of CFD to combustion and energy related problems.

Clients

TATA Steel, UK

MEFOS, Sweden

GERDAU Steel, Spain

BFI, Germany

Doosan Power System, UK

Publications

• Articles in journals
• Conference papers
• Books

Articles In Journals

• Hu Y, Wang J, Tan CK, Sun C & Liu H (2017) Further improvement of fluidized bed models by incorporating zone method with Aspen Plus interface, Energy Procedia, 105 (May) 1895-1901.
• Hu Y, Tewari A, Varga L, Li H & Yan J (2017) System dynamics of oxyfuel power plants with liquid oxygen energy storage, Energy Procedia, In Press.
• Hu Y, Wang J, Tan CK, Sun C & Liu H (2017) Coupling detailed radiation model with process simulation in Aspen Plus: A case study on fluidized bed combustor, Applied Energy, Early online.
• Hu Y, Tan CK, Broughton J & Roach PA (2016) Development of a first-principles hybrid model for large-scale reheating furnaces, Applied Energy, 173 (July 2016) 555-566.
• Hu Y, Tan CK, Broughton J, McGee E, Matthew A & Roach PA (2015) Development of transient mathematical models for a large-scale reheating furnace using hybrid zone-CFD methods, Energy Procedia, 75 (August 2015) 3076-3082.
• Hu Y, Li H & Yan J (2014) Numerical investigation of heat transfer characteristics in utility boilers of oxy-coal combustion, Applied Energy, 130 (October 2014) 543-551.
• Hu Y, Li H & Yan J (2013) Numerical simulation of radiation intensity of oxy-coal combustion with flue gas recirculation, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 17 (September 2013) 473-480.
• Hu Y, Li X, Li H & Yan J (2013) Peak and off-peak operations of the air separation unit in oxy-coal combustion power generation systems, Applied Energy, 112 (2013) 747-754.
• Li H, Hu Y, Ditaranto M, Willson D & Yan J (2013) Optimization of cryogenic CO2 purification for oxy-coal combustion, Energy Procedia, 37 (2013) 1341-1347.
• Hu Y, Li H & Yan J (2012) Effects of flue gas recycle on oxy-coal power generation systems, Applied Energy, 97 (September 2012) 255-263.
• Hu Y & Yan J (2012) Characterization of flue gas in oxy-coal combustion processes for CO2 capture, Applied Energy, 90 (1) 113-121.
• Hu Y, Li H & Yan J (2012) Techno-economic evaluation of the evaporative gas turbine cycle with different CO2 capture options, Applied Energy.
• Hu Y, Li H & Yan J (2010) Integration of evaporative gas turbine with oxy-fuel combustion for carbon dioxide capture, International Journal of Green Energy, 7 (6) 615-631.
• Wang W, Hu Y, Yan J, Nystrom J & Dahlquist E (2010) Combined heat and power plant integrated with mobilized thermal energy storage (M-TES) system,, Frontiers of Energy and Power Engineering in China, 4 (4) 469-474.
• Li H, Flores S, Hu Y & Yan J (2009) Simulation and optimisation of evaporation gas turbine with chemical absorption for carbon dioxide capture, International Journal of Green Energy, 6 (5) 527-539.
• Ding J, Hu Y, Yang X & Yang J (2008) Monte Carlo simulation of water adsorption in ZSM-5 zeolite, Huagong Xuebao/Journal of Chemical Industry and Engineering (China), 59 (9) 2276-2282.

Conference Papers

• Hu Y, Niska J, Broughton J, McGee E, Tan CK, Matthew A & Roach PA (2014) Zone modelling coupled with dynamic flow pattern for the prediction of transient performance of metal reheating. In: AISTech2014-The Iron & Steel Technology Conference and Exposition, Indianapolis IN, 5-8 May 2014.

Books

• Hu Y & Yan J (2015) Oxyfuel combustion for CO2 capture. In: Handbook of Clean Energy Systems, London: Wiley, p. 1365-1394.