Universidade Federal do Ceará
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica

This laboratory develops projects aimed at the design, manufacture, operation, and optimization of equipment and systems that use solar thermal energy as a renewable energy source for developing refrigeration systems (gas adsorption), desalination, heating (cooking with or without temporary heat storage), and water heating using concentrators for residential and industrial applications, as well as drying.

With a total area of 3,000 m² and four covered indoor spaces, including a 150 m² experimental room, a 75 m² manufacturing workshop, a 40 m² computing room, and a 45 m² room housing an environmental data measurement station, LESGN develops and improves equipment that uses solar radiation in research projects and in the development of new technologies, involving graduate and undergraduate research students.

Website: (www.sol.les.ufc.br)

This laboratory has an area of 120 m², divided into spaces for dynamometer testing and computational analysis. LMCI uses medium-sized turbocharged diesel engines for testing conventional combustion, dual diesel/homogeneous combustion, and HCCI. LMCI has a fully automated and instrumented active dynamometer test bench, where biofuels are evaluated in engines with mechanical injection systems (in-line injection pump) and electronic injection systems (common rail). Emissions are evaluated using a partial-flow opacimeter, a tunnel for particulate matter measurement, and gas analyzers (five gases by non-dispersive infrared, NOx by chemiluminescence, and HC by flame ionization).

The laboratory also performs computational simulations of processes occurring inside diesel engine cylinders, using a version of the KIVA 3 VR2 software with its own libraries and a high-performance Bull computer with 172 processors.

This laboratory develops energy system projects based on biomass and natural gas combustion, using a technology based on Combustion in Porous Media. Based on this technology, innovative thermal systems are developed, such as low-emission heaters and boilers; hydrogen synthesis reactors; fluidized-bed reactors; biogas production and treatment (purification) systems; and biomass pyrolysis and gasification reactors. The laboratory operates reactors suitable for liquid, solid, and gaseous biomass, developed in-house for theoretical and experimental studies and research, using process monitoring systems, control instruments, and data acquisition systems (National Instruments with LabView software).

LAERO – Aerodynamics and Renewable Energy Laboratory, located at the Pici Campus, Technology Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Ceará, is coordinated by Professor Carla Freitas de Andrade, a CNPq Productivity Fellow – PQ2. The laboratory conducts research and supervises students in the areas of Wind Energy, Aerodynamics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD, Simulation, Technical, Economic, and Financial Feasibility Analysis; Optimization Projects and Cost Reduction Analysis; Fatigue Assessment of Offshore Wind Turbines; Vibration Analysis of Wind Turbines; Wind and Solar Farm Layout Optimization; Wind Energy Potential Assessment; Wind Turbine Blade Prototyping and Performance Assessment; Green Hydrogen Potential Assessment using hybrid systems; and Wind Tunnel Testing, Validation, and Calibration.

Access the laboratory brief through the following link: BRIEF-LAERO

At LAFFER, new materials are developed in the form of thin films for use in photovoltaic solar cells. Particular emphasis is placed on cadmium chalcogenides CdX, where X is either sulfur (S) or tellurium (Te), which have been obtained using cathodic electrodeposition techniques (CdTe, CdS) and the chemical bath technique (CdS). In addition, the laboratory has developed the spray pyrolysis technique to obtain transparent conductive tin dioxide (SnO2) films for photovoltaic solar cells, which require an optically transparent and electrically conductive window. Processes for the fabrication of thin films for thermal collectors and solar radiation absorption processes are also studied. LAFFER has developed test benches and methodologies for manufacturing thin-film system prototypes suitable for photovoltaic cells, replacing commercial systems.

Access the laboratory brief through the following link: BRIEF-LAFFER

The LHMT – Hydrogen and Thermal Machines Laboratories at UFC is composed of professors from the Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering, whose area of concentration is Renewable Energy. It is a multidisciplinary group whose purpose is to develop applied research in order to meet the needs of the productive sector, particularly based on demands from companies and industries, always with a focus on innovation and sustainability in products, processes, and services. It is located in Fortaleza, at the UFC Pici Campus, Building 718, and covers several areas of research and academic innovation, such as Solar Energy, Biomass, Biofuels, Mobility, Hydrogen, Microbial Cells, and Desalination. The laboratory is coordinated by Professor André Valente Bueno.

Located at the State University of Ceará, the following projects are among its highlights:

• Development of catalytic systems: from emission reduction to the search for new fuels and their use in combustion in porous media;
• Thermochemical processes: Gasification and steam reforming (Syngas), Pyrolysis (biochar, bio-oil, pyrolysis gas), combustion (free flame and porous media);
• Microalgae: wastewater treatment and production of advanced biofuels;
• Motor vehicles and hydrogen production: roadmap, off-grid green hydrogen, biohydrogen, hybrid systems operated with ethanol, development and testing of real-world driving cycles;
• Modeling and simulation of thermal systems.

The laboratory focuses on research into alternative sources of electricity generation, seeking to decentralize and diversify the local, regional, and national energy matrix.

LEA also conducts research on new data acquisition and transmission systems for the analysis of temperature, irradiance, power, and electrical energy variables.

It stands out for its production of scientific articles, master’s dissertations, and doctoral theses at UFC. In 2016, it installed the first photovoltaic (PV) plant connected to the UFC distribution grid. The project was approved by the local utility, Enel Distribuição Ceará (ENEL), in accordance with technical standard NT-Br 010/2016 R-01, which establishes the technical criteria applicable to the connection of micro- and mini-generators to the distribution system.

• Development, characterization, and conformity assessment of biofuels (biodiesel, briquettes);
• Study of the thermogravimetric pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass;
• Thermal characterization of biofuels and biomaterials;
• Synthesis, characterization, and applicability of bioadditives and biomaterials as an opportunity to add value to residual and agro-industrial biomass;
• Integrated use of lignocellulosic biomass with a focus on bioenergy, circular bioeconomy, and sustainable development;
• Development of multifunctional biofuels and additives (e.g., antioxidants, anticorrosive agents, and lubricity improvers);
• Energy densification processes for residual biomass;
• Development of bench-scale equipment for the evaluation of biofuels and additives.

Access the laboratory brief through the following link: BRIEF-GRINTEQUI

The laboratory’s main objective is to create new system prototypes and/or improve components for conventional refrigeration cycles operating in thermal and mechanical cycles.

Located in the Department of Analytical and Physical Chemistry, Center for Sciences, Pici Campus, Building 938/939. Projects related to renewable energy focus on the following areas:

• Electrochemical production of Fe-, Ni-, Co-based layers and their alloys as electrocatalytic materials for hydrogen and oxygen production through water electrolysis in an alkaline medium using reclaimed water;
• Development of electrochemical process methodologies for hydrogen generation through electrolysis combined with the treatment of wastewater;
• Corrosion assessment of materials used in wind and solar energy generation;
• Assessment of biofuel corrosivity.