Eoin Syron

University College Dublin | UCD · School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering

With increasing shares of variable and uncertain renewable generation in many power systems, there is an associated increase in the importance of energy storage to help balance supply and demand. Gas networks currently store and transport energy, and they have the potential to play a vital role in longer-term renewable energy storage. Gas and elect...

Decarbonizing industrial high-temperature (above 500 °C) heat demand is considered as one of the most challenging areas for decarbonization of energy due to (1) their strive for high-grade heat input, and (2) CO2 emission as the by-product. Heat and electricity from solar sources (medium to high-temperature solar thermal and photovoltaics) are two...

Decarbonization of the heating sector is essential to meet the ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement for 2050. However, poorly insulated buildings and industrial processes with high and intermittent heating demand will still require traditional boilers that burn fuel to avoid excessive burden on electrical networks. Therefore, it is import...

Producing Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) via Power-to-Gas (PtG) is favourable for two reasons; it can be substituted for natural gas in the gas network, and it enables CO2 recycling as energy systems transition towards a low-carbon future. However, the expensive SNG production process is a barrier to being cost-competitive with other market gases. Sev...

A robust and resilient gas network is crucial for ensuring supply security and economic growth, which can be achieved by having a diverse, cost-efficient, and sustainable gas supply. This study highlights the importance of natural gas and natural gas networks in a low-carbon future and examines the drivers of gas supply diversification. A comprehen...

Understanding the system performance of different electrolyzers could aid potential investors achieve maximum return on their investment. To realize this, system response characteristics to 4 different summarized data sets of curtailed renewable energy is obtained from the Irish network and was investigated using models of both a Low Temperature El...

Renewable electricity can be converted into hydrogen via electrolysis also known as power-to-H2 (P2H), which, when injected in the gas network pipelines provides a potential solution for the storage and transport of this green energy. Because of the variable renewable electricity production, the electricity end-user’s demand for “power when require...

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are one of the most important air pollutants, mainly caused by the combustion of fossil fuels and nitric acid production processes. The hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor (HFMBR) is a suitable candidate for treatment of biodegradable gases such as NO which has a very low water solubility. In this study, NOx removal performa...

The volatile nature of the renewable energy sources requires energy storage to compensate for the imbalances and to provide reliable base load. Power-to-Methane technology facilitates long-term high capacity renewable energy storage in the form of Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) in the gas network. Unlike hydrogen, SNG usage in the network has no restr...

With an increase in variable and sometimes uncertain renewable generation coming on-line, there is an associated increase in the importance of energy storage to balance supply and demand. The gas network already stores and transports energy, and it has the potential to play a significant role for longer term energy storage. In addition, gas and ele...

The continuous uninterrupted supply of Natural Gas (NG) is crucial to today's economy, with issues in key infrastructure, e.g., Baumgarten hub in Austria in 2017, highlighting the importance of the NG infrastructure for the supply of primary energy. The balancing of gas supply from a wide range of sources with various end users can be challenging d...

In September 2017, the supply of natural gas from the Corrib Gas terminal was interrupted due to a fault in odorising system. In order to maintain public safety all gas users in Galway and Mayo were asked to stop using natural gas and the flow of gas was reversed so that the unoderised gas could be flared at the Corrib terminal. This incident high...

A method of assessing biofilm thickness in a membrane supported biofilm reactor (MSBR) of the type comprising a lumen containing a gas phase, a liquid phase, and a gas permeable membrane providing an interface between the gas and liquid phases, the method comprising the steps of charging the lumen with an inert gas, closing the lumen to establish a...

The membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) is an emerging technology for wastewater treatment. Oxygen diffuses through a gas-permeable membrane into the biofilm where oxidation of pollutants, supplied on the biofilm side of the membrane, takes place. This article describes the important design and operational principles of MABRs and reviews the pe...

The Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) has been used in many industries through out the world, and has shown its capability to treat wastewater under varying and extreme conditions. Following on from this the applicability of the AnoxKaldnes MBBR to remove BOD from Produced Water was examined. Produced water is the largest waste stream in oil and ga...

Fluorinated organic compounds have widespread applications, and their accumulation in the environment is a concern. Biofilm reactors are an effective technology for the treatment of contaminated wastewater, yet almost no research has been conducted on the effectiveness of biofilms for the biodegradation of fluorinated aliphatic compounds. In this p...

A simple mathematical model was developed to investigate the utilzation rate of a self-inhibitory substrate in idealised biofilm reactors operating with either counter-diffusion or co-diffusion of oxygen and phenol. This study has implications for the development of membrane-supported biofilm technologies, such as the membrane-aerated biofilm react...

The Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) treatment process can be used as an add-on feature or can be an alternative to activated sludge for biological treatment of refinery wastewater. A discussion covers the 11-yr operation of the AnoxKaldnes™ MBBR for first-stage COD removal; performance of the MBBR under various operating conditions; ability of th...

The membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) is a technology that can deliver oxygen at high rates and transfer efficiencies. This paper provides a comparative cost analysis of the MABR compared to the activated sludge process. Membrane cost and electricity cost were found to be the critical parameters determining the relative feasibility of the con...

The potential of the membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) for high-rate bio-oxidation was investigated. A reaction-diffusion model was combined with a preliminary hollow-fiber MABR process model to investigate reaction rate-limiting regime and to perform comparative analysis on prospective designs and operational parameters. High oxidation fluxe...

Diffusion of the electron acceptor is the rate controlling step in virtually all biofilm reactors employed for aerobic wastewater treatment. The membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) is a technology that can deliver oxygen at high rates and transfer efficiencies, thereby enhancing the biofilm activity. This paper provides a comparative performanc...