Working within 91¶¶Òõ's with funding from an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Innovation UK , Dr Vogiatzaki – Reader in the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics - has provided new fundamental knowledge and advanced numerical tools relating to the atomisation, heating and evaporation characteristics of liquefied gases, with a view to generating energy using cryogenic injection of the gases. Her research featured as a cover story in the journal .
Dr Vogiatzaki said: “My EPSRC fellowship has enabled me to work in the exciting field of cryogenics, developing technologies that can help tackle pressing energy sustainability challenges. Although my primarily field of research is in energy and transportation the knowledge that I and my group have built can be useful in a range of fields including medicine, space and quantum computing.”
Liquid gases such as air, nitrogen or natural gas can serve as cost-effective energy vectors within power production units, as well as providing transport "fuels" with zero emissions. For example, energy from renewables can be used to cool air or nitrogen to the point that they become liquids which, when injected into a higher temperature environment, return to gas form via a rapid 700-fold expansion in volume. This can drive a turbine or piston engine without any need for any form of combustion. Even better, the process can utilise waste heat from other processes.