RESEARCH

Sponsors

• U.S. National Science Foundation

• U.S. Department of Energy

• U.S. Army Research Laboratory

• Duke Energy

• Florida High Tech Corridor

• Tennessee Valley Authority

Research Interests

• Reactor design, modeling and testing for high-temperature thermochemical fuel production and energy storage (e.g., “solar fuels” and “solar electricity”)

• Multiscale modeling of reaction-transport coupling in reactive materials, structures and solar reactors

• Thermal-mechanical stress and creep-fatigue analysis for high-temperature solar receivers

• Low-temperature thermal/thermochemical energy storage (TES/TCES) in buildings

• Thermal management of high-power structures/devices (e.g., batteries, metal foams) and systems (e.g., electric vehicles, heat exchangers)

• Lattice Boltzmann method for complex flows and heat mass transfer

• Phase field-lattice Boltzmann method (PFM/LBM) for crystal/dendritic growth 

• PFM/LBM modeling of additive manufacturing processes

Current Projects

1. Reactive Particle Based Thermochemical Energy Storage System for Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (TCES-CSP) (2024 - 2027)

• Sponsor: Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO-22 Program)

• Lead: University of Central Florida (L. Li)

• Role: Lead PI

• Team members: RedoxBlox Inc. , Oregon State University, University of Houston, Sandia National Laboratories

• Amount: $3,879,669

2. Light Trapping, Enclosed Planar-Cavity Receiver for Heating Particles to Enable Low-Cost Energy Storage and Chemical Processes (2022 - 2025)

• Sponsor: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO-21 Program)

• Collaboration with National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL, lead), Purdue University, Colorado School of Mines, University of Houston, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Alumina Energy, and King Saud University

• Role: Co-PI; UCF PI

• Amount: $3.75M for total project

3. Electrically Heated Thermochemical Energy Storage for Long-Duration Storage and Grid Decarbonization (2024 - 2025)

• Sponsor: Duke Energy and Florida High Tech Corridor

• Role: PI

• Amount: $75,000

Completed Projects

1. Thermochemical Energy Storage Reactor Design and Demonstration to Accommodate Renewable Energy Intermittency (2023-2024)

• Funding: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), $150,000

• Role: PI

2. RII Track-4: Understanding Reaction-Transport Coupling in High-Temperature Thermochemical Energy Storage Systems (2021-2023)

• Funding: U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), $168,062

• Role: PI

3. Solid-State Solar Thermochemical Fuel for Long Duration Storage (2020-2023)

• • Collaboration with Michigan State (lead), Oregon State, and Purdue University Northwest

  • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE) SETO-19 Program, $2.5 million total , $375,000 to MSU

  • Role: Co-PI; MSU PI

4. Enhancing Particle-to-sCO2 Heat Exchanger Effectiveness through Novel High-porosity Metallic Foams (2021-2022)

• • Collaboration with Sandia National Labs and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL)

  • Funding: Department of Energy (DOE) SETO-20 Program, $375,000 (MSU as lead)

  • Role: Co-PI

5. Carbon Dioxide Shuttling Thermochemical Storage Using Strontium Carbonate (2014-2015)

   • Funding: DOE SunShot Initiative, $494,500

   • Role: Co-PI

6. Dynamic Natural Convection-Passive Cooling for the LWR Fleet (2019-2021)

• Collaboration with NuVision Engineering Inc.

• Funding: Department of Energy (DOE), $3.75 million to NuVision Engineering total , $550,275 to MSU

• Role: Co-PI

7. Develop an Initial Welding-based AM Theoretical Constitutive Model Framework for Inconel 718 and 250 Maraging Steel (2020 – 2021)

• Funding: U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), $250,064

• Role: Co-PI

8. Design of Additively Manufactured Metal-Foam Structures for Energy Storage in Buildings (2020 - 2021)

• Funding: Mississippi State University (MSU) Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED), $2,000

• Role: PI