Esther Koh

Esther Koh is currently an engineering master’s degree student in energy, environmental and chemical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. She previously worked as a researcher at AB Biotek North America for two years, joining LACER as a Ph.D. candidate in 2018.

Research
Despite an increase in renewable energy, fossil fuels will continue to be a major source of energy for the foreseeable future. LACER has developed a staged, pressurized oxy-combustion (SPOC) process that can improve net power plant efficiency as compared to traditional oxy-combustion. The technology has a potential for scale up and commercial implementation with further investigation of combustion profiles and properties. The research will involve an analysis of radiative heat transfer, which is a dominant path of energy exchange under high pressure in a high-temperature environment, using CFD simulation tools as well as studying the implications of various boiler and furnace configurations. A techno-economic analysis also will be conducted.