On the way from Cologne to Stuttgart we made a detour to one of the oldest technical universities in Germany, the KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). More precisely, we visited the Engler-Bunte-Institut Chair of Combustion Technology (EBI-vbt) at the Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering. Here, numerical (CFD) as well as experimental investigations (optical and invasive measurement techniques) are conducted to gain detailed knowledge of combustion processes. One area of interest is the (future) usage of hydrogenous, biogenic and synthetic fuels.
At the institute we had the opportunity to meet two of the research associates, Christoph Wieland and Christof Weis, who introduced the BioRoburplus-project.
A network of 11 partners from 7 European countries, including industrial companies, medium-sized enterprises, universities and research institutes are working on this project that is aiming for decentralized production of hydrogen from biogas by oxidative steam reforming. Highlights of the BioRoburplus project are the processing of raw biogas in varying qualities and high energy efficiency, both contributing to marketing production costs. A pilot plant in relevant scale and for real operating conditions has been designed and is currently under construction.
The contribution of KIT-EBI vbt is an efficient residual gas combustion system with heat recovery supporting the process energy efficiency. Special feature of this newly developed system is the capability of combusting biogas and/or residual gas that contains hydrogen in the same burner with high tolerance to fluctuating composition of the gas mixture.
Unfortunately, we could not see the pilot plant itself, because it is being set up in Turin, Italy. Demo operation will take place in the first half of 2021.
We thank the staff of KIT EBI vbt for the good introduction to this exciting topic during our short visit.
It was a pleasure to host you, good luck for the last kilometers of your tour!
Thank you Christoph!