Process Design and Intensification

Research Topics

• Catalytic hydrogen combustion to provide the reaction enthalpy needed for the LOHC dehydrogenation.
• Coupling of an SOFC with the LOHC dehydrogenation aiming on the integration of the SOFC waste heat into the LOHC dehydrogenation reactor thus providing the required reaction enthalpy
• Dehydrogenation of LOHCs in a reactive distillation column, where the reaction enthalpy of the dehydrogenation is provided by the heat of condensation
• Vacuum pressure dehydrogenation of LOHCs aiming to remove the thermodynamic limitation of the reaction due to the reaction equilibrium at low temperatures
• Autothermal dehydrogenation of LOHCs, characterized by providing the heat of reaction for the dehydrogenation by partial oxidation of the LOHC itself
• Coupling of LOHC dehydrogenation with an electrochemical hydrogen compressor (EHC) with the goal of purifying and simultaneously compressing the released hydrogen
• Development and testing of electrochemical cells (FC and EHC) for the dehydrogenation of LOHCs (at the moment mostly in the form of isopropanol)
• Selective separation of hydrogen from a natural gas grid used for gaseous hydrogen storage with an EHC
• Reactor characterization (residence time, hold-up) and measurement of kinetics