Research group Chemical Technology

The demand for chemical products is growing at an exponential rate. This tremendous challenge can be met by substantially improving existing strategies and optimising processes in chemical plants. In the past decade, great effort was required to match production efficiency to the needs of the society in view of product selectivity, material and energy costs, as well as environmental protection. In this context, Chemical Technology is a major contributor, transferring ground research to improvements and innovation.

Main areas of research:

• sustainable production
• reaction engineering
• process analytical technology
• electrochemical energy storage and conversion.

By integrating reaction and down stream processing more efficient and sustainable processes are possible. Membrane reactors are of special interest because they allow selective separation of reaction mixtures. Industrially relevant reactions are characterised by on-line and in-line analytical methods (e.g. reaction calorimetry, chromatography, and spectrometry).

To facilitate the necessary understanding of reaction kinetics, numerical modelling and simulation are applied and nonlinear parameter estimation, model discrimination, as well as optimal experimental design (OED) are used.

To allow practical application in continuous processes, analytical strategies for the monitoring and evaluation under steady state conditions are developed. In particular, the stability of chemical catalysts and biocatalysts is quantified to assess the impact on process control and economics.

Furthermore, polymer electrolyte membrane and solid oxide fuel cell technology and metal/air batteries are being investigated. Therefore, gas diffusion electrodes and catalysts are developed and electrochemically characterised under half-cell and fuel-cell conditions. Demonstrators are tested under practical conditions. Project examples are a charger based on a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), a rechargeable zinc/air battery and a hydrogen and methanol mid-temperature fuel cell.