Chemical Production Systems

The CatSys project focuses on the optimal design of processes for the production of commodity chemicals such as Cl₂, HCN and NH₃ by (electro-) catalytic gas phase reactions at low energy consumption, utilizing a close combination of mathematical modeling with experimental data at different process levels. Thereby, the PSE group has strong interactions with national and international research groups (Prof. T. Turek, Technical University Clausthal, Prof. M.R. Singh, University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. A.Z. Weber, Berkeley National Laboratory) and leading chemical companies such as Evonik and Covestro. As an example, a novel electrochemical gas phase HCl oxidation process is briefly presented herein.
   

The Collaborative Research Center (CRC/TR 63) InPROMPT with our partners from TU Berlin, TU Dortmund and OVGU focuses on the sustainable processing of renewable oleochemical substances by use of homogeneous catalysts, which are recovered with the help of novel, temperature-switchable multicomponent solvent systems [1]. The PSE group contributes to all hierarchical levels of process synthesis – from phase system selection to the experimental validation (Fig. 1) – while simultaneously adhering to the principles of Green Chemistry.  

Our group has many years of research experience in developing CASMPD methods for integrated solvent and process design tasks [1]. This research line was continued in recent years with special focus on the integrated design of ionic liquids (ILs) and absorption processes as well as integrated design of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and adsorption processes. The most important research aspects were: a) design of IL for CO₂ capture, b) design of IL-based phase change materials (PCM) for efficient thermal storage, c) design of MOF for hydrogen storage and gas separation. In order to accurately predict solvent and material properties and more efficiently solve the design problem, machine learning and surrogate modeling approaches have been appropriately employed.  

Worldwide about 60% of the chemical production is connected with solid materials. Very often, crystallization from solution is one important step during the process, for separation, for purification, for maintaining specific product properties. The industrial production of large amounts of product is mostly done in continuous processes, therefore a continuous crystallization is applied, but it requires a thorough understanding of the physical and chemical phenomena involved.  

The use of industrial plastic products is extensive because of their low production cost, valuable chemical and physical properties, and their durability in use. After the use phase, however, the majority of the collected plastic residues are typically burned for energy supply or disposed in a landfill. The Max-DePoly project is based on the emerging idea of the closed circular economy: plastics are manufactured, used and subsequently chemically depolymerized to monomers. The chemical recycling to monomers (CRM) enables a complete reuse of polymeric materials to produce again high quality polymers without loss of quality in their properties.