A significant increase of efficiency in the provision and consumption of energy, resources, and materials, in combination with an unprecedented rise of the share of renewable energy, is of paramount importance to the successful transformation of energy supply in Germany. The reduction of primary energy consumption by 50 % and of greenhouse gas emissions by 80 % by the year 2050 can only be accomplished by a higher crosslinking and optimisation of process chains, with the topics of resources, material developments, process engineering, and energy transformation processes being considered a holistic system. At the same time, transformation of energy supply requires the development of extraordinary flexibility regarding fuels, power plant load, and the related infrastructure. This is due to the necessity of a demand‐driven, competitive, and environmentally friendly energy provision for society and industry, which complements that from renewable sources.

We contribute to the Topic 2 “Energy efficient processes”

This topic concentrates on technologies for industrial production of high relevance to the consumption of energy and resources. The related research goals are a significant increase in efficiency with respect to the individual process chains and, at the same time, a reduction of the respective resource consumption. The topic focuses on two process classes: multiphase and thermal processes, mainly occurring in chemical and related industries. Examples of specific major issues are the intensification of chemical processes by micro process technology, the application of microwave (plasma) technology in materials processing, and the optimisation of multi-phase processes.

These is done by the implementation of a new level of measurement techniques, simulation tools and model experiments to gain a detailed understanding of processes and phenomena. Aim is to derive a higher energy and resource efficiency by advanced control or new design of processes. Keywords here are: process intensification, integration and thermal management as well as improved heat/mass transport and optimal reaction control in structured reactors. This is underlined by fundamental process understanding by increased spatial and time resolution and Multi-scale modelling and computational fluid dynamics.

Publications:

Simultaneous in situ characterisation of bubble dynamics and a spatially resolved concentration profile : A combined Mach-Zehnder holography and confocal Raman-spectroscopy sensor system Guhathakurta, J.; Schurr, D.; Rinke, G.; Dittmeyer, R.; Simon, S.
2017. Journal of sensors and sensor systems, 6 (1), 223-236. doi:10.5194/jsss-6-223-2017 

Characterization of a Raman Spectroscopic and Holographic System for Gas-Liquid Flows in Microchannels .Schurr, D.; Guhathakurta, J.; Simon, S.; Rinke, G.; Dittmeyer, R.
2017. Chemical engineering & technology, 40 (8), 1400-1407. doi:10.1002/ceat.201600622 

Research topics