Justin Lapp, Ph.D.

Dr. Justin Lapp

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Associate Faculty – Climate Change Institute

The University of Maine
Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center, Room 219
Orono, ME 04469-5711
(207) 581-2167; justin.lapp@maine.edu

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Minnesota, 2013

External Engagements:

  • Visiting Researcher, Sandia National Laboratories, July 2016
  • Research Scientist, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 2014-2017
  • DAAD-DLR Postdoctoral Fellowship, DLR, 2014-2016

Teaching Areas:

Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer

Research Areas: (Visit the Solar Thermal Energy Laboratory)

  • Solar Thermal Energy and Thermochemistry
  • Numerical Heat Transfer Modeling for High Temperature Systems
  • Thermal Radiation
  • Material Behavior Under Solar Thermal Cycling
  • Determination of Optical and Thermal Properties of Materials

Principal Sponsors:

  • DOE, NSF, BMBF, FCH-JU, Helmholtz Association

Select Research / Collaboration Activities:

  • Design and prototype demonstration of a moving bed particle receiver for heating of reactive metal oxide, DOE
  • Experimental demonstration of hydrogen production by solar redox cycles in a MW scale pilot plant, FCH-JU
  • Thermal modeling of a solar driven receiver-reactor for hydrogen production by a metal oxide redox cycle with heat recovery, NSF
  • Modeling of a directly irradiated absorber for heating evaporated sulfuric acid by sunlight, FCH-JU
  • Demonstration of a two-channel solar absorber for methane reforming and air heating, BMBF

Select Publications / Conference Presentations:

  • Design of Novel Particle Based Receiver Reactor for Reduction of Metal Oxides for Water Splitting. A. Singh, S. Brendelberger,J. Grobbel J. Reinhold, L. de Oliviera, J. L. Lapp, M. Roeb, C. Sattler. Solar Energy.
  • Accuracy of Oxygen Sensing in Flow-Through Systems for Solar Redox Material Characterization. J. L. Lapp, R. Reiping, B. Bulfin, M. Roeb, C. Sattler, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
  • Efficiency of Two-Step Solar Thermochemical Non-Stoichiometric Redox Cycles with Heat Recovery. J. Lapp, J.H. Davidson, and W. Lipiński. Energy, 37:591-600, 2012
  • Three-Dimensional Heat Transfer Modeling of a Solar Thermochemical Reactor for Water and Carbon Dioxide Splitting with Ceria. J. Lapp and W. Lipiński. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 136:031006, 2014.
  • Modeling of a Solar Receiver for Superheating Sulfuric Acid. J. L. Lapp, A. Guerra-Niehoff, H.-P. Streber, D. Thomey, M. Roeb, and C. Sattler, Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 138:041013, 2016.

Professional Activities / Memberships:

  • ASME Solar Energy Division, Chair of the ASME Solar Chemistry Technical Committee, 2017-Present
  • ASME Energy Sustainability Conference, Solar Chemistry Track Chair, June 25-28, 2018.
  • ASME Member