Conrad Hessels is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Power and Flow group in the Mechanical Engineering Department of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He researches and developes analysis techniques for iron(-oxide) powder as part of the metal fuel cycle. In a world switching more and more to renewable (but often fluctuating) energy sources, it is important to look for an energy carrier capable of safely storing and transporting large amounts of energy. Iron powder has, on paper, shown to be a possible solution. It can be burned in a similar fashion to coal, requiring minimal infrastructure changes, and the produced oxides can be recycled using green hydrogen. However, both on the combustion and reduction side, lots of challenges await. In Hessels’ research, he studies the combusted and reduced powder in detail, in order to solve fundamental questions and challenges in this field.

Conrad Hessels obtained his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in 2015. Afterwards he started his masters in the group of Power & Flow. For his internship he went to the Volvo Car Corporation in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he worked in the Advanced Engine Development group on the post-processing of metal and optical petrol engine test data. When he came back to the Netherlands he started his master thesis under supervision of associate professor Nico Dam, working on using Raman spectroscopy for quantitative analysis of non-premixed flames. Hessels' thesis was awarded the TU/e MSc Thesis Award 2018 within the graduate program Mechanical Engineering as well as the 2nd prize of the "KHMW Nederlandse Gasindustrie Prijzen". After finishing his master in 2017, he joined the Power & Flow group as a Doctoral Candidate under the supervision of professor Niels Deen and assistant professors Yali Tang and Tess Homan. His research focussed on the reduction of combusted iron powder using green hydrogen, as part of the metal energy carrier cycle. He finished his PhD in May 2023.