SFB "Bulk-Reaction" successfully extended
The Collaborative Research Center/Transregio SFB 287 "Bulk-Reaction" has been extended for another four years. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing the research teams at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and Ruhr University Bochum with €12 million for the second funding period, running until 2028, to investigate energy-intensive industrial processes. Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg is replacing Ruhr University Bochum as the lead university. The new spokesperson for SFB 287 is Prof. Dominique Thévenin, and the deputy spokesperson is Prof. Evangelos Tsotsas.
The goal of the approximately 40 researchers from engineering, computer science, and physics is to develop experimentally validated computer simulation models for difficult-to-control, yet very energy-intensive industrial particle conversion processes. In thermal production processes, chemical reactions occur due to the movement of the raw material particles within the reactor and the flow of a gas. These reactions lead to further processing or refinement of the particles. In the future, the use of materials and energy should be calculated more precisely through more accurate estimation and prediction of these processes, thereby significantly reducing the enormous consumption of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions during these particle production processes.
“Predictions based on calculations of chemical reactions between particles and gases still have significant weaknesses. In the first funding period of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 287, we successfully laid the foundations for improving these calculation methods,” says Prof. Dr. Dominique Thévenin, Chair of Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Engineering at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and spokesperson for the consortium. “We know quite precisely what goes into the reactors, and we also know well what comes out, but we finally want to know what is happening inside the reactor.” The challenge lies in the exact chemical-physical-mathematical description of the processes in the high-temperature, closed systems despite the presence of several million particles.
The second funding period focuses on renewable energy carriers such as hydrogen and biomass, as well as the electrification of industrial processes through renewable electricity.
The combination of experimental methods, novel measurement techniques and numerical analyses of industrial processes is intended to reduce the proportion of rejects and energy consumption while simultaneously improving the quality of the products.
For the official press release of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg