Temnov, Diana

Background

The evaluation and analysis of sustainable value chains requires the application of interdisciplinary research approaches. These approaches combine economic, ecological, technical, scientific, legal, and social aspects. This allows value chains to be examined in their breadth and depth, across the entire system and specific to each process.

Contents

The production of renewable liquid fuel products and basic chemicals is an essential building block for achieving climate targets in so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors such as aviation, shipping, heavy-duty transport, and the chemical industry.

In addition to the use of biomass and recycling, processes based on renewable electrical energy (PV, wind) and CO2 in power-to-liquid (PtL) processes are increasingly coming into focus.

In the possible process constellations, high overall energy efficiency is particularly important, as energy procurement costs have the greatest impact on production costs. In order to ensure the optimal operation of PtL plants using volatile energy sources, stand-alone systems are particularly dependent on storage technologies. In addition to conventional storage systems such as batteries and gas storage facilities, this work will analyze the potential uses of heat storage systems. The focus here is primarily on high-temperature heat storage systems based on liquid metal melts, as the conversion of electrical energy into high-temperature heat can be achieved with high energy efficiency and, based on HT heat, heat requirements at all temperature levels can be met. The integration of concentrated solar thermal energy and steam turbines using HT heat storage systems is also conceivable.

The analysis should be based primarily on modeling/simulation (either in Aspen Plus, Aveva Process Simulation, or Matlab), supplemented by an economic analysis.

Requirements

This thesis is aimed at students of economics, environmental and chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and similar courses of study. A systematic and results-oriented approach is a prerequisite for being awarded the thesis. An interest in process simulation and optimization is an advantage.

The application should include a current transcript of grades, a resume, and a short letter of motivation (approx. half a DIN A4 page).