Gas compression is commonly seen across multiple industries in the modern economy and has many applications like heat pumps and carbon capture. As industrial processes transition to electricity for power, gas compressors will play an increasingly important role as an energy storage source. Calculating this quantity requires accurate calculations of isentropic compressor work, which is straightforward for ideal gases, but more difficult to estimate for non-ideal gas mixtures. Many industrially relevant gas mixtures and process conditions do not follow the ideal gas assumption, so this project will develop a computational platform to efficiently calculate isentropic compression and expansion work using pressure-explicit cubic equations of state (EOSs) or multiparameter Helmholtz EOSs.

By participating in SuperUROP, I’m hoping to gain insight into what it’s like to complete the research process end-to-end, and explore more of my interest in computational work combining both my skills in mechanical engineering and computer science. I’m excited to learn more about how to model industrial processes, and hope to build a useful computational platform for others to use and contribute to further understanding of the field.