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2013|14 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

PHYSICAL PROCESS TECHNOLOGY The Physical Process Technology Department is involved in developing processes and process components based on physical and physical-chemical principles. Our customers are manufacturers of process components, contractors and pro- cess system suppliers, and come from sectors such as pulp and paper, metal processing, the food industry and the supply of drinking water. Current main themes Heat storage using thermo-chemical processes Use of sorption systems to remove moisture from gases, in particular from air to provide water Drying in a superheated steam atmosphere with integrated recovery of volatile materials Recovery of inorganic nutrients Production of soil-improving substrates from organic residuals Electrolytic and photolytic water treatment Stabilization of foods and biogenic products using pressure change technology Use of electric fields for selective substance separation Microwave technology for defined and fast energy charge Apart from our technical competence and specialized exper- tise, a hallmark of the quality of our R&D activities is our focus on sustainability. Thus, for example, we replace flows of raw materials by recycling, upgrading or overhauling processes for the efficient use of regenerative energy and find ways to im- prove the efficiency of energy use. This also leads to improved economic efficiency of processes, meaning that our approach satisfies both ecological and economic demands at the same time. One example of this is the development of a process to store heat from waste heat or solar heat without losses during the time of storage. The intention is to be able to provide heat energy for industrial use at any time and, thanks to the high energy density, at any location; thus the supply is not directly linked to when and where the energy has been generated. Potential applications are drying processes in production, sup- plying heat to buildings, or the concentration or thickening of highly contaminated process wastewater with vacuum vapor- ization. Our development work on processes and process components extends from initial laboratory-scale characterization and analytics via simulation and software modeling to design and system integration in industrial applications. For developing and designing our technical solutions, we have access to the latest 3D CAD design software, which is directly linked by data interface to various numerical simulation programs. For standard modeling we use COMSOL Multiphysics® like the theoretical modeling of multi-phase processes such as the behavior of solid particles in a fluid flow; and CST Microwave Studio® for the calculation of high frequency electromagnetic fields in cavities and the design of antennas to generate them in a defined way. From the data thus gained we can proceed to realize demonstration prototypes using the many resources at our disposal – workshops, laboratories and pilot plant facili- ties, as well as a network of industrial partners. The Physical Process Technology Department is staffed by sci- entists from various disciplines – such as process engineering, chemical engineering, food chemistry, mechanical and elec- trical engineering – who work together in multi-disciplinary project teams. Projects may also involve collaboration with specialists from other Fraunhofer IGB departments, such as microbiologists and bioengineers, or from other Fraunhofer Institutes, leveraging synergies in expertise to address specific issues. COMPETENCES 52

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