ABOUT ME h5>
Associate professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and researcher at the Thermochemical Process Group (GPT) of the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A) of the University of Zaragoza (Spain).
My research interests are in the fields of high temperature chemistry, chemical kinetic modeling, and formation and destruction of air pollutants (nitrogen oxides, sulfur compounds, …) in energetic and industrial processes/applications.
BIOGRAPHY
I graduated with a Master in Chemical Engineering from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and in 2013 I got the degree of PhD in Chemical Engineering at the same university. As part of this investigation, in January-April 2011, I made a short term collaboration at the (Combustion Harmful Emission Control) CHEC group of the Technical University of Denmark. My research activities were related to hydrocarbon conversion in presence of different gaseous compounds that can be typically present in atmospheres with recycled flue gas (RFG), such as CO2, NOx or SO2, to provide of the necessary experimental data both to get
insight into the phenomena controlling the process and to improve and update a gas-phase combustion scheme in relation to different reaction environments.
In 2015- 2017 I worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Instituto de Carboquímica (ICB) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), with a research Grant funded by the Spanish Government.
During this time my research activities were focused on the development and optimization of oxygen carriers for the Chemical Looping Combustion process. In June-September 2016 I made a short term collaboration at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEM) of the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal), to study the influence of the presence of metals on the combustion of biomass.
Since 2017, I am a researcher at the Thermochemical Process Group (GPT) of the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A) of the University of Zaragoza (Spain), performing fundamental studies related to the formation and destruction of main pollutants in thermo-chemical processes.
PUBLICATIONS h5>
2012
Esarte, Claudia; Abián, María; Millera, Ángela; Bilbao, Rafael; Alzueta, María U
Gas and soot products formed in the pyrolysis of acetylene mixed with methanol, ethanol, isopropanol or n-butanol Artículo de revista
En: Energy, vol. 43, no 1, pp. 37–46, 2012, ISSN: 03605442.
@article{Esarte2012b,
title = {Gas and soot products formed in the pyrolysis of acetylene mixed with methanol, ethanol, isopropanol or n-butanol},
author = {Claudia Esarte and María Abián and Ángela Millera and Rafael Bilbao and María U Alzueta},
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544211007572},
issn = {03605442},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-07-01},
journal = {Energy},
volume = {43},
number = {1},
pages = {37--46},
abstract = {The pyrolysis of acetylene-methanol, acetylene-ethanol, acetylene-isopropanol and acetylene-n-butanol mixtures has been studied in a flow reactor in the 975–1475 K temperature range. The purpose of this work is to analyze the effect of each alcohol on soot and gas products coming from the pyrolysis of the mixtures compared to the results observed in the pyrolysis of pure acetylene, taken as a reference. Results show that the presence of alcohols always reduces the formation of soot and that the lower the atomic carbon/oxygen (C/O) ratio in the reacting mixture, the higher the soot reduction achieved, mainly due to the enhancement of oxidation reactions by the presence of O in the fuel mixture. The experimental evolution of gas products at the reactor outlet is interpreted through a detailed gas phase chemical kinetic mechanism, which allows insight into the causes for soot reduction by the presence of the different alcohols. This analysis reveals that including methanol in the reacting mixture favours mainly the formation of CO, preventing most of the carbon coming from the alcohol to take part in soot formation and its precursors. The rest of the alcohols not only decompose into oxidation products but they can also form species that may contribute to soot formation. In particular, ethanol promotes the formation of CO and CH4, which come from competing reactions that prevent PAH formation, but also forms C2H4 that may contribute to soot precursors growth. Isopropanol contributes to disfavour PAH formation because it decomposes into CO and CH4, but it also forms C2 and C3 hydrocarbons that play an important role in PAH formation and growth. N-butanol enhances oxidation reactions to CO and CH4 formation in a lower degree than the rest of the alcohols and tends to decompose into small hydrocarbons, able to contribute to PAH formation and growth.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Abián, María; Millera, Ángela; Bilbao, Rafael; Alzueta, María U
Experimental study on the effect of different CO2 concentrations on soot and gas products from ethylene thermal decomposition Artículo de revista
En: Fuel, vol. 91, no 1, pp. 307–312, 2012, ISSN: 00162361.
@article{Abian2012a,
title = {Experimental study on the effect of different CO2 concentrations on soot and gas products from ethylene thermal decomposition},
author = {María Abián and Ángela Millera and Rafael Bilbao and María U Alzueta},
url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236111003875},
issn = {00162361},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-01-01},
journal = {Fuel},
volume = {91},
number = {1},
pages = {307--312},
abstract = {This research work reports a laboratory study of the influence of environments with different CO2 levels, representative of conditions in which exhaust gas recirculation is used in combustion systems, on soot and gas products formed in the thermal decomposition of ethylene–CO2 mixtures. The investigation includes experiments, in a flow reactor, with 30,000ppm of ethylene at different experimental conditions of temperature (975–1475K) and CO2 concentrations (25%, 50% and 78.5%), using nitrogen as bulk gas. The analysis is performed by comparison with the data obtained during the pyrolysis of ethylene in a N2 atmosphere. The present results highlight the importance of the CO2 level in the system, since the presence of 25% CO2 tends to promote the formation of soot, whereas an increased CO2 addition of 78.5% leads to a diminution in the production of soot, compared to the pyrolysis of pure ethylene in N2. The different evolution in soot formation tendencies can be attributed to competing reactions that gain importance depending on the different CO2 levels, boosting or suppressing soot formation as function of the composition of both the O/H radical pool and the reacting species. The outlet concentrations of H2, CO and C2H2, as well as the formation of H2O, are directly related to the different soot-forming tendency found as function of different CO2 environments.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2011
Abián, María; Giménez-López, Jorge; Bilbao, Rafael; Alzueta, María U
Effect of different concentration levels of CO2 and H 2O on the oxidation of CO: Experiments and modeling Artículo de revista
En: Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, vol. 33, no 1, pp. 317–323, 2011, ISSN: 15407489.
@article{Abian2011,
title = {Effect of different concentration levels of CO2 and H 2O on the oxidation of CO: Experiments and modeling},
author = {María Abián and Jorge Giménez-López and Rafael Bilbao and María U Alzueta},
doi = {10.1016/j.proci.2010.05.078},
issn = {15407489},
year = {2011},
date = {2011-01-01},
journal = {Proceedings of the Combustion Institute},
volume = {33},
number = {1},
pages = {317--323},
publisher = {Elsevier},
abstract = {Recent increased interest in oxy-fuel combustion makes it interesting to study the impact of CO2 and H2O concentrations on the oxidation process of CO. Experiments were performed in a quartz flow reactor operating at atmospheric pressure, over the temperature range of 700-1800 K, from fuel rich to fuel lean conditions in the presence of variable amounts of CO2 and H2O as representative of different exhaust gas recirculation conditions. The experimental results were simulated and interpreted in terms of a detailed kinetic mechanism by Glarborg et al. [1], with minor changes and updates. Good agreement was found between model and the present experimental results and analysis of the experimental results as well as simulation of data reported in literature on CO oxidation with CO 2/H2O presence was supported with the model used. Sensitivity and reaction path analyses were used to identify the important reactions involving CO oxidation as function of the different reaction environments. textcopyright 2010 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Combustion Institute. All rights reserved.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2010
Abián, María; Silva, Sandra L; Millera, Ángela; Bilbao, Rafael; Alzueta, María U
Effect of operating conditions on NO reduction by acetylene-ethanol mixtures Artículo de revista
En: Fuel Processing Technology, vol. 91, no 10, pp. 1204–1211, 2010, ISSN: 03783820.
@article{Abian2010,
title = {Effect of operating conditions on NO reduction by acetylene-ethanol mixtures},
author = {María Abián and Sandra L Silva and Ángela Millera and Rafael Bilbao and María U Alzueta},
doi = {10.1016/j.fuproc.2010.03.034},
issn = {03783820},
year = {2010},
date = {2010-10-01},
journal = {Fuel Processing Technology},
volume = {91},
number = {10},
pages = {1204--1211},
publisher = {Elsevier},
abstract = {An experimental and theoretical study of the influence of different operating conditions on NO reduction by acetylene-ethanol mixtures has been carried out. The present investigation includes the evaluation of the impact of adding different amounts of ethanol for NO reduction by an acetylene-ethanol mixture, and the evaluation of the capacity of acetylene-ethanol mixtures to reduce different amounts of NO. The experiments were conducted in a quartz flow reactor at atmospheric pressure in the 775-1375 K temperature range operating under different oxygen concentrations, from fuel-rich to fuel-lean conditions, considering the influence of these operating variables. The experimental results have been simulated and interpreted in terms of a literature detailed gas-phase kinetic mechanism. The present results show that ethanol addition to acetylene shifts the onset for NO consumption to higher temperatures; however, the maximum NO reduction levels reached by pure acetylene oxidation are not significantly modified by its addition. The initial concentrations of NO and oxygen are important parameters affecting NO reduction by acetylene-ethanol mixtures oxidation, since they are closely coupled to the fate of hydrocarbon radicals responsible of NO consumption. textcopyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2008
Abián, María; Esarte, Claudia; Millera, Ángela; Bilbao, Rafael; Alzueta, María U
Oxidation of acetylene-ethanol mixtures and their interaction with NO Artículo de revista
En: Energy and Fuels, vol. 22, no 6, pp. 3814–3823, 2008, ISSN: 08870624.
@article{Abian2008,
title = {Oxidation of acetylene-ethanol mixtures and their interaction with NO},
author = {María Abián and Claudia Esarte and Ángela Millera and Rafael Bilbao and María U Alzueta},
url = {https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines},
doi = {10.1021/ef800550k},
issn = {08870624},
year = {2008},
date = {2008-11-01},
journal = {Energy and Fuels},
volume = {22},
number = {6},
pages = {3814--3823},
publisher = {American Chemical Society},
abstract = {An experimental and theoretical study of the oxidation of acetylene-ethanol mixtures in the absence and presence of NO has been carried out. The experiments were conducted in an isothermal quartz flow reactor at atmospheric pressure in the 775-1375 K temperature range. The influence of the temperature, stoichiometry (by varying the O2 concentration for given C2H2 and C2H5OH initial concentrations), presence of different amounts of ethanol added to acetylene, and presence of NO on the concentrations of C2H2, C2H5OH, CO, CO2, NO, and HCN has been analyzed. The gas-phase kinetic mechanism used for calculations was that developed by Alzueta et al. (Alzueta, M. U.; Borruey, M.; Callejas, A.; Millera, A.; Bilbao, R. Combust. Flame 2008, 152, 377-386) for acetylene conversion, on the basis of a previous work by Skjoth-Rasmussen et al. (Skjøth-Rasmussen, M. S.; Glarborg, P.; Østberg, M.; Johannessen, J. T.; Livbjerg, H.; Jensen, A. D.; Christensen, T. S. Combust. Flame 2004, 136, 91-128), with reactions added from the ethanol oxidation mechanism of Alzueta and Hernández (Alzueta, M. U.; Hernández, J. M. Energy Fuels 2002, 16, 166-171), as well as reactions from the mechanism developed by Glarborg et al. (Glarborg, P.; Alzueta, M. U.; Dam-Johansen, K.; Miller, J. A. Combust. Flame 1998, 115, 1-27) to describe the interactions among C1/C2 hydrocarbons and nitric oxide. The experimental results show that the ethanol presence significantly modifies the acetylene conversion regime, inhibiting soot formation. An increase of the oxygen level and temperature favor acetylene conversion. The presence of NO results in some differences in relation to the oxidation regimes of the acetylene-ethanol blends. The reduction of NO by the mixture is favored at the highest temperatures of the considered range, above 1275 K, and for moderately fuel-ricb conditions ($łambda$ = 0.7). In general, the kinetic model satisfactorily simulates the experimental trends. Model predictions indicate that, under the conditions of this study, HCCO + NO is the most important reaction in reducing NO. Moreover, the ethanol presence slightly inhibits the NO reduction in relation to the oxidation of pure acetylene. textcopyright 2008 American Chemical Society.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}