Structural and Thermal Engineering Lead
Woods Institute for the Environment
Senior Capstone Project into Fellowship and Full-time Position
September 2019 - September 2020
While the brick industry generates a significant portion of economic revenue and development in Bangladesh, the combustion processes required to produce bricks result in harmful emissions that contribute to poor air quality and thousands of premature deaths. Across over 8000 kilns in Bangladesh, these bricks are prepared by manually feeding coal through portholes into a high temperature firing zone. Our objective was to increase the efficiency of combustion and reduce emissions such as carbon monoxide and black carbon particulates.
Our capstone team designed a porthole attachment solution with a funnel and diffuser to both slow the rate at which coal enters the porthole, and disperse coal particles across a larger radius within the firing zone, decreasing the total amount of coal needed. The final design includes robust geometries that are durable for 1000C kiln temperatures and expected handling, and the attachment results in increased spatial uniformity of coal particles throughout the brick stacking formation.
My team traveled to Delhi, India to meet with engineers and kiln managers that work with kilns similar to the Bangladeshi kilns. We received feedback, iterated on design, and scheduled the experimental testing timeline for the next year.
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I joined the Woods Institute as a full-time Fellow for an additional 6 months to create the manufacturing and training manuals, as well as develop an additional two solutions to further increase combustion efficiency during the brick firing process:
1) Implementing K-type thermocouples to achieve ideal firing temperatures according to fuel type (coal, saw-dust, etc.)
2) Researching a modular insulation layer at the kiln surface to reduce heat loss and promote air flow for lean-burn combustion
All designs and testing procedures are prepared for implementation in November, 2020. While I am no longer actively working with this team, I will be the course assistant for the senior capstone group of 2020-21 engineers to further monitor the testing process.
# product design, supply chain, combustion, sheet metal, welding
