Let's congratulate Richard Stephan on successfully defending his thesis

On July 13, 2026, Richard Stephan successfully defended his thesis titled “Commissioning of a Prototype Plant for the Treatment of Pyrolysis Gas on an Industrial Scale” at the Chair of Energy Process Engineering. The thesis was supervised by Luis Wunder, M.Eng., under the academic direction of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Beckmann.

The thesis focused on the commissioning of a prototype plant for purifying pyrolysis gases using catalytic partial oxidation. The goal of this innovative process is to remove undesirable tars and dust particles from the gas, thereby improving the quality of the synthesis gas for further energy use.

As part of the thesis, the test rig was refurbished in collaboration with the project partners and successfully commissioned. Subsequently, Mr. Stephan conducted extensive experimental investigations to verify the system’s functionality and analyze key operating parameters. Among other things, this demonstrated the repeatable removal of oxygen in the reactor and yielded insights into the condensation of pyrolysis oil and the temperature behavior within the plant. Based on the results, optimization proposals for preheating and future plant operation were also developed.

Through his work, Richard Stephan is contributing to the further development of efficient hot gas cleaning processes and the utilization of pyrolysis gases on an industrial scale.

We warmly congratulate Mr. Stephan on the successful completion of his master’s degree and wish him every success in his future endeavors. We are particularly pleased that he will remain with the Chair of Energy Process Engineering and will begin his position as a Research Associate immediately following the completion of his studies. We warmly welcome him to the team and look forward to working with him in the future!