Researchers of our faculty are testing renewable fuels for aviation

Members of the Combustion Research Group at the Department of Energy Engineering focus on low emission combustion research. Interview with Viktor Józsa, senior lecturer, and Gyöngyvér Hidegh, PhD student.

What does the phrase ’combustion’ exactly mean? It is related to fire, flames, certain technologies...

Viktor Józsa: The phrase ‘combustion’ covers multiple fields, including combustion theory, combustion technology, combustion-related numerical simulations, and in a general context, the use of fire by mankind. Even cooking can be classified here, however, instead of stoves, we focus on industrial and power plant applications.

What made you pursue research in this field? Why combustion?

Gyöngyvér Hidegh: This topic grabbed my attention in the spring of 2015. I was impressed by that Viktor, and another colleague, Attila Kun-Balog, are how enthusiastic about their research to find explanations for various interesting phenomena and challenges in this field.

Viktor Józsa: When I was a child, I wanted to be a pilot. I never liked cars but jet aircraft. Following that, my goal was to work with jet engines and gas turbines; thus I applied to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of BME. Firstly, I turned to mechanics then fluid dynamics, because I was the only applicant for heat engineering specialization in 2011. The current research thread dates back to the scientific student conference (TDK) in 2010; my topic of bioethanol utilization in gas turbines, supervised by Dr. Krisztián Sztankó. Then we turned to heavier alternative fuels like crude rapeseed oil, which is highly viscous.  More