Concept and Organization of Research

The research activities of the institute are focused on challenging problems in chemical process engineering, bioprocess engineering, process systems engineering, systems biology, and systems theory. This objective does not only require the development and application of Process Engineering and Systems Engineering approaches but also the establishment of new Computational Methods and advances in Systems Theory.

• the synthesis, analysis and control of chemical reactors and energy conversion processes
• separation processes
• the collection of thermodynamic and kinetic data
• the control, design and optimization of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
• integrated circuits (ICs) and machine tools
• the design and optimization of bioprocesses
• biomedical applications
• the analysis of molecular networks in biological systems.

All research topics share a common theme: they use modeling approaches and tools provided by systems science, so that systems science remains the important integrating factor in the institute.

As the interdisciplinary character of the Max Planck Institute implies a structure that does not allow for strictly separated departments, various research groups have been established.

Scientists from several disciplines share their particular point of view and methods in the examination of a certain research topic. Interdisciplinary collaborations of the MPI manifest in two respects:
First, methods from several System Categories are used to examine one application in Systems and Process Engineering from different perspectives. Second, tools from the same System Category are often employed to deal with problems arising in different fields of applications in Systems and Process Engineering.

Finally, to cope with the enormous complexity of the investigated systems and to establish efficient methods for dealing with the corresponding problems, the development of new Systems Theoretical and Computational Methods is required.