Research topics

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Our research is focused on non-reactive and reactive separation units and especially their internals. Furthermore, innovative technologies towards process intensification are investigated, e.g. energy-integrated and micro-separation units. A further area is the analysis and optimisation of energy-efficient heat exchangers, evaporators and condensers. In order to gain deep process understanding, fundamental research studies on transport phenomena in different systems (e.g. extraction, distillation, evaporation, condensation) are carried out.

Below you will find a list of our current research topics:

  • Theoretical and experimental investigation of non-reactive and reactive separation processes
    • Distillation
    • Absorption and desorption
    • Extraction
  • Process intensification
    • Theoretical and experimental investigation of integrated separation processes (e.g. reactive separation processes)
    • Design and optimisation of micro-separation units and micro-reactors
  • Investigation, optimisation and development of column internals
    • Structured packings
    • Dumped packings
    • Sandwich packings
    • Pollution sensitivity of internals
  • Real and virtual experiments towards determination of process parameters in packed columns and fixed-bed reactors
    • Pressure drop
    • Hold-up
    • Residence time distribution
    • Heat and mass transfer coefficients
    • Separation efficiency
  • Investigation and optimisation of heat exchangers and heat storages
    • Numerical simulations towards flow optimisation in heat exchangers
    • Expermental and numerical investigation of condensation in pillow-plate and fin-and-tube heat exchangers
    • Design and optimisation of heat exchangers for exhaust gas heat recovery in motor vehicles
    • Modeling and optimization of macro-encapsulated latent heat storages based on phase change material (PCM)
    • Numerical investigation of cyclic condensation and evaporation processes with dense working fluids in microchannel heat exchangers
    • Development of thermodynamic and heat transfer models for the optimization of heat engines
  •   Analysis of transport phenomena in multiphase flows
    • Liquid films and single bubbles in gas/liquid systems
    • Single droplets in liquid/liquid systems
    • Coalescence
    • Interfacial convection
    • Multicomponent diffusion
    • Fluid dynamics and mass transfer at moving phase boundaries
  • Cooling and/or heating of electrical and mechanical engineering system elements
    • Numerical simulation of heat transfer in electronic and mechanical components
    • CFD-based geometry optimisation of cooling channels for power electronics components
    • Cooling of photovoltaic units