Prof Jenny M. Jones
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B.Sc. Chemistry M.Sc. Surface & Colloid Science Ph.D. Applied Chemistry FRSC, CChem. M.Inst.E Professor in Sustainable Energy Room 410 |
Research Interests
The emphasis of the research in Dr. Jones’ laboratory concerns technologies aimed at producing sustainable energy with low carbon and low pollutant emissions, including fundamental studies of pyrolysis, combustion and gasification of biomass and clean coal technologies.
Current projects include: Fundamental studies of the impact of inorganics and metals in thermal conversion of biomass; Optimisation of fuel quality and yield of energy crops; Alternative biomass resources (including marine biomass) and classification; Biomass pre-treatment to improve fuel properties for various conversion processes; Soot characterisation and understanding the mechanism of PAH and soot formation; The nitrogen cycle in biomass production and the influence on nitrogen chemistry in thermal conversion; Co-firing coal and biomass; Oxy-fuel combustion of coal. We have also undertaken coal science research as well as catalytic methods of gas cleaning, and have a great deal of expertise in these areas.
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Progress of combustion of coal/ biomass briquette |
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The group makes use of state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation, and has outstanding facilities for pyrolysis-GC-MS, thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis, FTIR microscopy with accessories for studying thermal reactions in situ, and small reactors for pyrolysis, high pressure work, and pre-treatment methods. New instrumentation is being developed which is particularly suited to studying the fate of inorganics and ash and combustion behaviour.
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Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry of biomass |
The experimental work is complemented by theoretical studies using thermodynamic, kinetic, or molecular modelling software.
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| 1. Pittsburgh #8 coal |
| 2. 0.3s P#8 char |
| 3. 1.0s P#8 char |
The work is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Dr Jones is a co-director (financial manager) of the UK’s Supergen Consortium in Bioenergy , and an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow.
Biomass and Coal combustion models
- Understanding at a molecular level the changes a solid fuel particle undergoes during thermal processing
- Quantification of these changes for development and validation of predictive computational models.
Techniques to characterise the structure of the catalysts are combined with reactivity studies in order to obtain fundamental information about catalyst surfaces, the active sites they contain, and the processes that occur over them. Recent and on-going work is in the following areas:
- Selective catalytic oxidation of ammonia
- Selective catalytic reduction of NO
- Catalytic combustion of methane
Research Group
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| Dr. Andy B. Ross
RCUK Fellow in aquatic biomass; |
Biomass, Biofuels and Energy Crops, |
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Co-pyrolysis of coal and biomass; |
Biomass and Energy |
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Biomass Soot formation |
Combustion of Energy Crops |
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| Bijal Gudka | |
Selected Publications
E. M. Fitzpatrick, J. M. Jones, M. Pourkashanian, A.B. Ross, A. Williams and K.D. Bartle, Mechanistic Aspects of Soot Formation from the Combustion of Pine Wood, Energy & Fuels, 22 (2008) 3771-3778.
Daniel J. Nowakowski, Charles R. Woodbridge, Jenny M. Jones. Phosphorus catalysis in the pyrolysis behaviour of biomass. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 83 (2008) 197–204.
Daniel J. Nowakowski, Jenny M. Jones, Uncatalysed and potassium-catalysed pyrolysis of the cell-wall constituents of biomass and their model compounds, J.Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 83 (2008) 12–25.
A. B. Ross, J. M. Jones, M. L. Kubacki, T. Bridgeman; “Classification of macroalgae as fuel and its thermochemical behaviour”, Bioresource Technology, 99 (2008) 6494-6504.
Bridgeman T.G., Jones J.M., Shield I., Williams P.T., Torrefaction of reed canary grass, wheat straw and willow to enhance solid fuel qualities and combustion properties, Fuel 87 (2008) 844-856.
Fahmi R., Bridgwater A.V., Darvell L. I., Jones J. M., Yates N., Donnison I., Thain S., The Effect of Alkali metals on Combustion and Pyrolysis of Lolium and Festuca Grasses, Switchgrass and Willow, Fuel 86 1560-1569 (2007).
T. G. Bridgeman, L. I. Darvell, J. M. Jones, P. T. Williams R. Fahmi, A.V. Bridgwater, S. C. Thain and I. S. Donnison. T. Barraclough, I. Shield, N. Yates, Influence of particle size on the analytical and chemical properties of two energy crops. Fuel, 86 (2007) 60-72.
Jones, J.M., Darvell, L.I., Bridgeman, T.G., Pourkashanian, M., and Williams, A., An Investigation of the thermal and catalytic behaviour of potassium in biomass combustion. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 31 (2007) 1955-1963.
Jones, J.M., Kubacki, M., Kubica, K., Ross, A.B., and Williams, A., “Devolatilisation characteristics of coal and biomass blends”, J. Appl. Anal. Pyrol. 73 (2005) 197-206
Jones J.M., Pourkashanian M., Williams A., Backreedy R.I., Darvell L.I., Simell P., Heiskanen K., Kilpinen P.; The selective oxidation of ammonia over alumina supported catalysts–experiments and modelling, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 60, 139-146 (2005).
Ross A.B., Junyapoon S., Jones J.M., Williams A., Bartle K.D., “A study of different soots using pyrolysis-GC/MS and comparison with solvent extractable material” J. Appl. Anal. Pyrol. 73 145-152 (2005).
Agnew, J., Hampartsoumian, E., Jones, J.M., and Nimmo, W. “The effect of sintering on sulphur capture by limestone and dolomite”, J. Inst. Energy 78 81-89 (2005).