SmartProSys: New Methods and Approaches for Process Engineering in future Chemical Industry

Team of scientists around Prof. Kai Sundmacher at MPI Magdeburg is participating in SmartProSys research initiative - Smart Process Systems for a Green Carbon-based Chemical Production in a Sustainable Society
(Update 29 January 2024)

The SmartProSys research team (Smart Process Systems for a Green Carbon-based Chemical Production in a Sustainable Society) around Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Sundmacher, director at the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg and Chair for Process Systems Engineering at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, aims to use new methods and approaches to lay the foundations for the chemical industry of tomorrow.
The research initiative investigates methods and ways how to transform energy-intensive linear process chains in chemical and biotechnological production based on fossil raw materials and energy sources into sustainable, fully closed, energy-saving cycles using biomass, residual materials and renewable energies.

The project is based on joint research between the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg (MPI) and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU), the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) in Rostock and the Brandenburg Technical University (BTU) in Cottbus. The spokespersons of the SmartProSys initiative are Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Sundmacher, Director at the Max Planck Institute and Chair of Process Systems Engineering at OVGU, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Kienle, External Scientific Member at MPI Magdeburg and Chair of Automation Engineering / Modeling at OVGU, and Prof. Dr. Ellen Matthies, Chair of Environmental Psychology at OVGU.

The SmartProSys research initiative aims to replace fossil raw materials in chemical production with renewable carbon sources, thus contributing to a carbon neutral society. It follows a system-oriented strategy and investigates resource-efficient degradation and synthesis strategies at process level, intelligent catalytic conversions at molecular level, and economic and societal impacts at a higher system level. The complexity of the system requires the development of powerful computational and machine learning methods for the design, simulation, optimization and control of the system. SmartProSys involves researchers from the fields of systems-oriented process engineering, chemistry, mathematics, logistics, political science, and psychology.