Welcome to the Combustion Chemistry Centre

The Combustion Chemistry Centre, C³ is engaged in fundamental research on the combustion of fossil and biofuels. Combustion is the ultimate interdisciplinary field: it requires knowledge of chemistry, physics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and mathematics. In addition, combustion science has a well defined purpose in society today, facilitating the study and analysis of problems associated with the generation of air pollutants. C³ is concerned with the application of combustion research to the design of energy-efficient engine and gas turbine combustion systems and the impact of their use on toxic and greenhouse gas emissions, thus helping address the problems of urban air pollution and climate change.

The strategic goals of the Combustion Chemistry Centre are to:

• Promote the sustainable and efficient use of energy in transport
• Maximise energy efficiency and energy savings across the economy
• Deliver an integrated approach to the sustainable development and use of bio-energy resources
• Address global warming by reducing energy-related greenhouse gas emissions
• Accelerate energy research development and innovation in support of energy goals

The coupling of experimental chemical combustion studies in our shock tubes and rapid compression machine facilities, with detailed kinetic modelling is a unique feature of our research centre. In fact, the group is the only one in Ireland producing experts in the area of combustion. With the Government’s decision to license large-scale incinerators for municipal waste, trained graduates with expertise in incinerator processes will be required. Currently, C³ is the only centre in Ireland with the expertise to train researchers for this growing industry.

C³ is helping deliver an integrated approach to the sustainable development of biofuels by joining with both the Microbial Bioenergy Group and with the Molecular GlycoBiotechnology Group to generate biofuels.

We have a number of active research projects. Three of these are funded by Irish National Development Plan research agency awards from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Prof Curran is funded by Science Foundation Ireland under their Principal Investigator programme. In addition, he is a Spoke Leader on the Sustainable Energy and Fuel Efficiency (SEFE) project  as part of the Marine and Renewable Energy Centre (MaREI). We also have industry-linked projects with Siemens Canada Limited, Shell Global Solutions and Computational Chemistry LLC.