Sustainable Energy Process Engineering

Building on this knowledge base, energy systems analysis forms the foundation for integrating additional energy technologies into water sector processes in order to sustainably optimise the overall energy balance. Core topics include energy conservation and storage, as well as the investigation of new approaches to power-based production of hydrogen and synthetic downstream products (Power-to-X). Dynamic modelling is a key tool for achieving sharp temporal-resolution optimisation of these complex approaches. Our application examples range from biogas upgrading to biomethane and the utilisation of surplus electricity in electrolysis units, through to the production of synthetic energy carriers.

In the project Aix-Net-WWR, funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), FiW is working together with partners from research and industry to harness wastewater streams for thermal use. The concept employs heat pumps to establish energy-efficient heat supply systems, using wastewater streams as a reliable low-temperature source.

Coupling renewable energy generation with electrochemical processes opens up further potential. Electrolysers operating on surplus renewable electricity produce hydrogen – as a chemical energy store or for further processing – and oxygen. The latter can be used directly in wastewater treatment processes such as ozonation for micropollutant removal. The electrolytically produced hydrogen can, in future, be combined with a biogenic carbon source – for example from bio- or sewage gas – and converted to methanol via the GREEN-BEE (now continued as B2M Raman) pilot plant, for use as a base chemical or e-fuel.

In the research projects E-BO₂t and E-MetO, we are developing model-based concepts for the integration of these storage and conversion technologies. FiW supports the process engineering work in close cooperation with industrial partners, from the determination of technical fundamentals and process design through to practical implementation.