Engineering Process Intensification and Catalysis

考虑到社会需求、气候变化和环境保护的经济增长是实现联合国可持续发展目标（UN-SDGs）和加速向化学工业电气化过渡的关键。这个工程过程强化（PI）和催化（EPIC）的研究中心的目标是：1)解决PI和催化之间的技术差距；Ii)量化替代能源载体的能量密度和效率，以加速和减少化学反应的足迹和成本；iii)确定生命周期，量化这些创新、颠覆性技术的技术经济学。为此，CRC在不同的强化反应器（超声波、微波、旋转盘和连续机械化学反应器）中调查了一系列催化剂和反应系统，并进行了时间尺度分析，以量化所涉及的传输现象的个体和整体能量密度和效率。在一个整体的方法，生命周期和成本分析（LC-CA），以及技术经济分析（TEA）进行。迄今为止，对催化和能量强化方法的协同效应研究甚少。该CRC的另一个独创之处是，首次将时间尺度分析应用于强化过程，量化了每种输运现象相对于其他输运现象的特征时间和能量通量（密度和效率），从而为PI提供了新的度量标准，并开发了新的PI指标。首次将动态LC-CA模型应用于PI技术，并对全尺寸和模块化单元进行了TEA。该CRC将产生一些高影响力的贡献，因为i)它确定了催化剂和强化方法之间的协同作用，通过最小化能源投入和反应器尺寸来提高生产率；Ii)开发可应用于不同系统的高速粒子图像测速方法；iii)提出一种计算每种运输现象的PI因子和整体PI因子的方法；iv)建立了考虑电网技术不成熟的现实LC-CA和TEA模型；v)它加速了知识的传播，从而使PI技术进入市场。最终，PI技术有可能在发展中国家通过当地的可再生模块化（小规模）工厂实施。

Economic growth while accounting for social needs, climate change and environmental protection are key to tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) and accelerate the energy transition towards the electrification of the chemical industry. This CRC in Engineering Process Intensification (PI) and Catalysis (EPIC) has as objectives i) to address the technological gap between PI and catalysis; ii) to quantify the energy density and efficiency of alternative energy vectors to accelerate and decrease the footprint and cost for chemical reactions and iii) to identify life cycles and quantify techno-economics of these innovative, disruptive technologies. To do so, the CRC surveys a series of catalysts and reactive systems in different intensified reactors (ultrasound, microwaves, spinning disc and continuous mechano-chemical reactors) for which time scale analysis will be performed to quantify the individual and overall energy density and efficiency of the transport phenomena involved. In a holistic approach, life cycle and cost analysis (LC-CA), as well techno-economic analysis (TEA) are performed. The synergistic effects of catalysis and energy intensification methods have been little explored so far. Another original character of this CRC lies in applying, for the first time, the time scale analysis to intensified processes to quantify the characteristic time and energy flux (density and efficiency) of each transport phenomenon in relation to the others, thus providing new metrics for PI and develop new PI indicators. For the first time, dynamic LC-CA models are applied to PI technologies and TEA is performed for both full-scale and modular units. This CRC will generate a number of high impact contributions since i) it identifies synergies between catalysts and intensified methods to increase productivity by minimizing energy input and reactor size; ii) it develops high speed particle image velocimetry methods that can be applied to different systems; iii) it proposes a methodology to calculate PI factors for each transport phenomenon and an overall PI factor; iv) it develops realistic LC-CA and TEA models that take into account electricity grid technology immaturity; v) it accelerates the knowledge and thus the adoption of PI technologies to the market. Ultimately vi) PI technologies have the potential to be implemented in developing countries, by local renewable-based modular (small scale) plants.