Chemie Ingenieur Technik最新文献

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is part of the European Union (EU)’s strategy to become climate-neutral by 2050. CO₂ is needed as a feedstock for the production of climate-friendly base chemicals and sustainable fuels. Although CO₂ capture from industrial point sources is technically feasible and requires less energy than direct air capture, its integration into the circular economy is challenging due to only the temporary recognition of fossil CO₂ as a source for the production of climate-friendly renewable fuels. In this article, CO₂ sources such as waste incineration plants, lime production, and steel production are analyzed based on process simulation in terms of their energy demand for CCU and compliance with current EU legislation on renewable fuels over the service life of a CCU plant.

The Carbon2Chem^® project utilizes steel production gases to synthesize methanol, urea, and other commodity chemicals. The complex process involves CO₂ capture and hydrogen production and synthesis, requiring precise analysis due to the diverse components in steel mill flue gases. As some of these components could harm the employed catalysts, the analytics needs to ensure the quality of the purification unit and enhance the understanding of transportation effects and performance in gas cleaning and methanol synthesis. An already established method, proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), was employed to assess the gas quality.

This paper focuses on the operation and results of the gas treatment pilot plant for the purification and conditioning of steel mill gases, a key element of the Carbon2Chem^® Technical Center in Duisburg, Germany. Using highly sensitive analytics, it is demonstrated that steel mill gas impurities which are detrimental to downstream catalytic conversion are reduced to single-digit ppb levels. Strategies for adapting the gas purification process to take account of the transformation of steelmaking towards direct reduction are also discussed.

Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are frequently utilized in various gas conversion processes. For industrial applications a low flow resistance and scalability are crucial. In this study a tenfold scaled-up reactor based on a surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) was employed for the removal of oxygen traces from H₂/N₂/O₂ gas mixtures. The conversion efficiency of the reactor with ten electrode configurations was investigated for different admixtures of O₂, and high degrees of conversion were observed that decreased with increasing flow rate, but remained constant when raising the pressure to 2 bar(g). A new generator based on silicon carbide field-effect transistors (SiC-FETs) was used and compared to a generator based on classical metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOS-FETs).

Fouling is a challenge in many processes, especially in heat exchangers and evaporators. Even though many treatments have been developed to mitigate fouling on metallic surfaces, no standardized method exists to compare equipment based on its antifouling performance. In this work, a screening apparatus is presented, which allows to compare samples of treated metallic surfaces based on thermal fouling resistance. A parameter screening and a ranking of three differently treated metallic surfaces using two model substances, namely, whey protein concentrate (WPC) and calcium sulfate, are demonstrated.

Compared to heat pumps established in the building sector, high-temperature heat pumps (HTHPs) suitable for industrial use still face challenges, not only from a mechanical engineering point of view but also regarding integration into existing processes. They need to supply larger amounts of heat at higher temperatures. The mere replacement of a gas boiler by an HTHP will rarely deliver an energy-efficient solution. Instead, these units must often be tailored to the application and vice versa, making specifications a complex task. This paper intends to link thermodynamic and economic basics of HTHPs to the process engineering of the actual production process. It also ventures an outlook on the economic and regulatory boundary conditions in the EU as corner stones for a sustainable investment decision.

The hydraulic calculation of column internals is crucial for their design. The various fouling effects (due to crystallization, particles, chemical reaction) influence the hydraulics of columns in different ways (capacity, separation efficiency). However, current hydraulic models are based on clean systems and do not consider fouling. By properly taking into account the geometrical parameters affected by fouling, the classical models can be used to calculate the state of internals as they evolve over time.

Keeping carbon in the loop within the technosphere is a promising idea from a technical perspective when striving for climate-neutral production. Reporting obligations for greenhouse gases have been focused on release into the atmosphere, often under the tacit assumption that any greenhouse gas (GHG) formed will eventually be emitted. Technologies that build on carbon capture face a situation where regulations are lacking terms to describe processes that produce or use carbon dioxide but do not release it. This work aims to highlight this situation and to provide suggestions to overcome some of the hurdles.

The applicability of a fluidically heated spinning disk apparatus (SDA) was tested for investigating the influence of the tangential velocity on the deposition of particulate material systems, in particular on latex particles. First, the SDA was characterized for particle fouling investigations with micro glass beads as a model system, then, a first series of tests was carried out with a real material system, a vinyl acetate/Versa 10 copolymer. Experiments were performed for a duration of 1 h and a tangential velocity up to 0.3 m s⁻¹. The fouling process was characterized by the local fouling layer thickness and the calculated local mass-based fouling resistance. A decrease in fouling resistance along the radius of the rotating disk as a function of the tangential velocity was observed.