Innovative microwave heating for energy-intensive thermal production processes
Around 19 percent of Germany's overall energy demand is currently used to provide process heat. Most of the required energy is obtained from the burning of fossil fuels. Scientists investigate how energy consumption of large-scale processes can be reduced and additionally substituted by green alternatives.
Process engineers at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg are using innovative microwave technology to make energy-intensive production processes more environmentally friendly and efficient. An example is the pyrolysis of plastics. As the electricity required to operate the microwave reactor comes from renewable energy sources, the process heat is 100% CO2 emission-free. The high energy densities also allow for enormous process intensification, which further reduces overall energy consumption. The research project is part of the SmartProSys Cluster of Excellence Initiative.
Dr.-Ing. Nicole Vorhauer-Huget and Prof. Christof Hamel (University of Magdeburg), together with partners from Technische Universität Dortmund (Prof. Alba Dieguez Alonso) and Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Dr. Jan Barowski) are investigating whether the extremely rapid volumetric heating in endothermic thermochemical conversion processes has an effect on reaction pathways.
