Research projects

As plans are progressing for the CCUS infrastructure for transporting, storing and using CO₂, it is becoming increasingly clear that the separated CO₂ must be very pure in order to be used or stored. CC technologies are currently being planned with considerable engineering effort and electricity consumption for gas cleaning systems to separate unwanted accompanying substances. This is where this project comes in. It aims to investigate an innovative concept that could significantly reduce this effort.

Precise material balances and up-to-date transfer factors are essential for evaluating trace element emissions in cement clinker production. Outdated data makes it difficult to use modern, CO₂-neutral raw materials and fuels. The project aims to update the transfer factors to support industry, the environment and climate protection.

The oxyfuel technology is to be investigated qualitatively using a dynamic process simulation. This will provide a basis for the control and optimization of oxyfuel systems, resulting in a faster rollout of this crucial technology for CO₂ reduction.

In the AiF project EVCAZ, the energetic and material utilisation of wastes containing carbon fibres is to be demonstrated on an industrial scale in a cement plant. The central tasks are the evaluation of the conversion success of the CF fibres, the recording of the resulting emissions and the consideration of influences on the process and the clinker quality. The findings obtained are summarised to assess health and environmental risks and to answer questions relevant to approval as a decision-making aid for cement plant operators.

The aim of the project is to investigate Machine Learning models for the characterisation of alternative fuels in the cement production. For this purpose, a public-accessible database (with fuel characteristics and images) is set-up and different machine learning models will be trained on that data, the algorithms will be tested on their robustness and suggestions for the classification of the fuel quality and its visualisation in the control room will be made.

In CaLby2030, the deployment of Calcium Looping technology (CaL) using Circulating Fluidised Bed reactors (CFB) in the cement industry will be investigated, aiming at efficient CO₂-Capture without compromising clinker production or product quality. A technology scale-up will be also evaluated in a German cement plant by exploring different retrofit possibilities. Besides the cement sector, the deployment of CFB-CaL technology in other relevant sectors will also be investigated.

In the research project, infrared cameras are used to record the surface temperature of the clinker bed in the clinker cooler. Together with calculated enthalpy flows, this allows control room personnel to identify the operating condition of the cooler. This is used in operational tests to optimise the heat transfer in the clinker cooler by controlling the drive system and adjusting the cooling air distribution.

Separate ultra-fine grinding of cement - Energy-efficient grinding meets optimised cement and concrete properties. Today, future-oriented cements can already be produced more sustainably and efficiently by using various components of different finenesses.