Daniel Dean Casado is one of the students of the School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA) of the University of Zaragoza awarded by the COGITIAR Chair for his Final Degree Project in Chemical Engineering, focused on the ‘Study of the combustion of ammonia-synthesis gas mixtures in argon atmosphere’ and which has been developed in the Thermochemical Processes Group (GPT) of the I3A, directed by the researcher Uxue Alzueta.
Daniel Dean has demonstrated the potential of ammonia as a future fuel, as it has no carbon in its composition and its combustion has carbon-free emissions. It can also be used as a vector for hydrogen, as it is easier and cheaper to transport and store, and is already being produced on a large scale, particularly for use in fertilisers.
He has also shown that, nevertheless, it needs to be burned together with some other gas to improve its combustion properties. This is precisely what his TFG focused on: combustion of different mixtures of ammonia with synthesis gas (basically formed by CO+H2) at different temperatures, and analysing how the behaviour of the ammonia and the emissions of pollutant gases generated varied. At the same time, he did a simulation part with the experiments he had done in the laboratory in a programme with a reaction model, to see the validity of this model and its predictive capacity.
The prize awarded by the COGITIAR Chair has a financial remuneration of 300 euros and, in parallel, to recognise the work done, diplomas were awarded to all the directors, co-directors and speakers of these TFGs in an event that took place at the EINA at the beginning of May.
A prize that took Daniel Dean by surprise, ‘I honestly didn't know about it until they wrote to me from the Chair saying that my TFG had been one of the shortlisted projects. I didn't think twice and I said yes, I gave my authorisation for my TFG to be assessed’.
Of his time at the I3A and the work in the Thermochemical Processes Group, ‘I have very good memories of those months in the laboratories, both for what I learned and for the people who were by my side all that time,’ he says.
This award represents the finishing touch to his four-year degree, a recognition that has given him great excitement, also because of the effort and time he invested in the TFG, ‘it is an incentive to continue giving everything and making an effort’. It also makes him look with gratitude to all those who have helped him along the way.
Now she has to finish her Master's degree and is going to focus on her dissertation and internship, which she would like to do in a company. He has not yet decided which path to follow, but he has a wide range of options. ‘As a chemical engineer there are good prospects for finding a job. I don't know what I will do, but I am excited about this new stage in my life that will start soon.
