Advanced Foams for Process Intensification

Ting Qiu, Koyo Norinaga, Yixiong Lin, Chen Yang

• Publisher: IntechOpen
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781836341758
• Print ISBN:
  9781836341765
• Topic: Physical Sciences

Advanced foam materials featuring highly interconnected pore structures substantially improve heat and mass transfer performance in catalytic reactors and energy conversion systems, thereby facilitating process intensification that is both energy-efficient and aligned with carbon-neutral objectives. This book adopts a multidisciplinary methodology, integrating high-fidelity computational modeling, physics-informed machine learning, and experimentally validated characterization, to address persistent technical challenges across catalytic reactors, proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, solar-thermal energy systems, and low-emission combustion technologies. Key methodological and technological contributions include: (i) The key applications of foam structures in the field related to energy; (ii) AI-enhanced porous media modeling for predictive optimization of transport processes; and (iii) thermally adaptive design strategies for safe and efficient management of highly exothermic processes, including CO? methanation and hydrogen-blended combustion. Grounded in application-driven research, the work demonstrates quantifiable advances in emission reduction, system-level energy efficiency gains, and scalable implementation pathways.

Table of contents

• Advanced Foams for Process Intensification
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter1 Heat and Fluid Flow in Metal Foam: Pore Scale and Volume Averaged Methods, Local Thermal Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Models
• Chapter2 CFD-Deep Learning Investigation of the Structure-Performance Relationship of Foam Reactor with Hierarchical Pore Structure for Dry Reforming of Methane
• Chapter3 Enhancing Water Discharge and Output Performance in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Metal Foam Flow Field with Hierarchical Pore Structure
• Chapter4 Foam Materials for Electrochemical Applications in Renewable Energy
• Chapter5 Numerical Study of a Direct-Irradiated Solar-Driven Pyrolysis Reactor
• Chapter6 Perspective Chapter: Numerical Investigations on the Regulation of Temperature Distribution in Packed Bed for Exothermic Reactors
• Chapter7 Combustion Characteristics and Flame Stability of Hydrogen-Enriched Natural Gas for Domestic Porous Media Burners
• Chapter8 Supercritical CO -Processed Polymeric Foams for Process Intensification Structure, Functionality, and Advanced Applications