Research in thermodynamics

The growing global demand for energy and the use of fossil fuels are leading to an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere and a change in the climate, the effects of which are already being felt today through extreme weather events. At the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, the participating countries therefore agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 K compared to the level before the start of industrialization. This requires a significant reduction in CO₂ emissions worldwide.

Thermodynamics plays an important role in research and development in energy and process engineering. With the main theorems of thermodynamics, it provides the tools for balancing processes and identifying optimization potential. Precise equations of state for describing the thermal and energetic state behavior of fluids are also of particular importance.

With our research projects, we want to make a contribution to improving energy and resource efficiency. The focal points include the characterization and modelling of diffusion and adsorption processes in porous solids, the investigation and development of new storage media for thermal energy storage and the provision of thermophysical material data.

Gas/solid reactions and diffusion processes are mechanisms of major importance in catalysis, for thermochemical heat storage and for adsorption heat pumps and chillers. The development of new types of storage media and adsorption processes for heat pumps should improve the possibilities for integrating environmental heat and waste heat. Another problem is the greenhouse and ozone depletion potential of currently used refrigerants. The investigation and thermodynamic modeling of new mixtures should provide alternative and more environmentally friendly working fluids for refrigeration processes and ORC systems.