Hydrogen/ Thermal hydraulics

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Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Antonio Hurtado

Chairholder of the Chair of Hydrogen and Nuclear Energy

Mr Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Antonio Hurtado

Direktor des Instituts Energietechnik

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Institute of Process Engineering and Enviromental Technology - Chair of Hydrogen and Nuclear Energy

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Visiting address:

Walther-Pauer-Bau, PAU 216 George-Bähr-Straße 3b

01069 Dresden

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Florian Gamaleja

Head of the research area "Hydrogen energy"

Mr Dipl.-Ing. Florian Gamaleja

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Institute of Process Engineering and Enviromental Technology - Chair of Hydrogen and Nuclear Energy

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Visitor Address:

Walter-Pauer-Bau, PAU 214/1 George-Bähr-Str. 3b

01069 Dresden

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Hydrogen and safety technology

In the area of hydrogen and safety technology, we transfer the proven methods of safety and risk analysis from the nuclear sector to other applications in a wide variety of systems.

This focus area is also dedicated to the development and investigation of technical solutions and key concepts for energy conversion and storage. This includes in particular

Evaluation of safety-relevant processes and technical equipment in the field of hydrogen technology
Development of flexible conversion technologies for the efficient conversion of volatile surplus reserves into various forms of energy (e.g. power-to-methanol, power-to-heat, heat-to-power)
Development of chemical/thermal storage technologies for short, medium and long-term energy supply

The competencies in the following areas should be emphasized

Safety analyses for the risk assessment of hydrogen technologies
Technical implementation of different plant concepts with associated measurement and control technology
Chemical process and plant engineering as well as energy and system process engineering
Thermodynamic and fluid dynamic modelling and optimization of high-temperature processes and multiphase flows in complex geometries

For details of current research activities, please refer to the individual projects.

Thermohydraulics

The thermal hydraulics focus is primarily dedicated to the experimental investigation of special phenomena that arise primarily during the operation of existing nuclear power plants with light water reactors. We also look at possible phenomena that can be expected during the development of Generation 3+ light water reactors.

The focus here is on single-phase and two-phase natural circulation flows, which play a decisive role in the operation of passive heat removal systems in particular:

Passive heat dissipation using building condensers
Passive heat removal from wet fuel storage facilities
Safety of fuel element storage pools

In addition to the experiments, the Chair carries out theoretical analyses with the integral code ATHLET.

Projects

10/2025 - 08/2028	Fabrication and functionalization of interconnected porous carbon fiber cathodes for application in platinum-free high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells 'PolKa'
08/2025 - 12/2027	Resource-efficient and recyclable cells and stacks for fuel cells and electrolyzers 'Hy²Cycle'
08/2025 - 12/2027	Significant increase in electrolysis efficiency through electrode surface optimization 'ELECSO'
07/2025 - 12/2028	Safety and security for the scale-up of decentralized electrolysis plants 'S3dEL'
12/2024 - 09/2026	EU Horizon Small Hydrogen Valley 'H2tALENT'
10/2023 - 12/2025	H2-RARE: Futuring H2-Re-utilizing all resources
09/2022 - 02/2025	NPHyCo: Nuclear Powered Hydrogen Cogeneration
08/2021 - 06/2022	HITEMAGEN4: High temperature materials for Generation IV molten salt reactors
01/2018 - 06/2021	H2-INES: Integrative increase of the safety level in the hydrogen value chain
03/2017 - 06/2021	AMTEC-D: Development of an alkali metal converter for the highly efficient direct conversion of heat into electricity
11/2016 - 06/2020	SYNKOPE-flex: Synergetic coupling of energy sources for efficient processes
10/2016 - 01/2017	TWIAT: Hydraulic expertise for research into the dynamic behavior of drinking water systems
09/2016 - 12/2020	DELTA: Development of a tubular steam electrolyzer with integrated hydrocarbon synthesis
07/2015 - 01/2022	Joint project PANAS: Investigations on passive decay heat removal systems: Experimental analysis, modeling and validation for system and CFD codes
03/2015 - 08/2018	Joint project EASY: Integral experimental and analytical verification of the controllability of design basis accidents with passive systems alone
10/2013 - 09/2019	Joint project SINABEL: "Safety of wet storage facilities for spent fuel assemblies: Experimental analysis, modeling and validation for system and CFD codes"
01/2014 - 09/2021	LUKA: Passive heat removal from a wet spent fuel storage facility
10/2011 - 09/2014	Generic investigations on the operating behavior of passive heat removal systems
08/2009 - 07/2012	Boiling joint project: Experimental investigation of the influence of reactor-specific coolant additives on boiling processes
10/2009 - 09/2012	Investigation of rod loading in fuel assemblies under residual heat conditions during evaporation of the reactor pressure vessel and the storage pool
11/2010 - 03/2011	Further ISOTRAN experiments on the transport of insulating material fibers through BWR spacers with a two-phase flow
07/2010 - 10/2010	Investigation of erosion corrosion on light grids
09/2009 - 02/2010	Investigation of the transport of insulation material through BWR spacers
04/2006 - 12/2006	Experimental investigation of the behavior of a slowly evaporating fuel element storage pool
09/2005 - 08/2009	Analysis of the reactivity effectiveness of the injection of boron
01/2004 - 12/2006	In-depth non-linear analysis of the stability behavior of boiling water reactors
06/1997 - 05/2000	Experimental investigations on the thermohydraulic properties of the passive pulse generator
11/1995 - 12/1996	Simulation of the cooling air cooler as a natural circulation evaporator using the DANTON experimental plant

Student research projects

Experimental and theoretical work is part of the training of students in the context of student research projects or employment as Student Assistants. Current tasks and SHK calls for proposals can be found here. In addition, individual topics can be developed jointly between the students and the Chair.

Publications and patents

Test facilities

ALADIN
COSMOS
DELTA
GENEVA
ISOTRAN
LUKA
SECA

Overview of experimental works from 1985 to the present

Experimental works from 1985 to the present

Cooperations

Cooperation partners of the research area "Hydrogen Technology"

TU Freiberg, Institute for Thermal Engineering and Thermodynamics
Institute for Thermal Engineering and Thermodynamics (IWTT)
TU Freiberg, Institute for Ceramics, Glass and Building Materials Technology
Institute for Ceramics, Glass and Building Materials Technology
Industrieanlagen Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (IABG mbH)
IABG
Karlsruhe Reprocessing Plant, Dismantling and Disposal GmbH
WAK GmbH
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Experimental Thermofluid Dynamics
HZDR Experimental Thermofluid Dynamics
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Fluid Dynamics
HZDR Institute Fluid Dynamics
Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen , Chair of Reactor Safety and Technology
KIT Karlsruhe, Institute for Applied Materials
IAM
Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Systems, Department: Nitride Ceramics and Electrically Functional Structural Ceramics Dresden
IKTS Nitride and electrically functional structural ceramics
Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Systems, Department: Joining Technology and AVT Dresden
IKTS Joining Technology and AVT
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids Dresden
MPI for Chemical Physics of Solids