Reducing pollutant emissions and increasing combustion efficiency while simultaneously taking aspects of economic efficiency into account is one of the greatest challenges in the development of novel combustion technologies. In recent years, modeling and simulation have proved to be excellent new tools for addressing these challenges. Experimental techniques in combination with numerical models are therefore applied rigorously by the Department to predict the reaction kinetics of combustion processes and the formation of pollutants for various fuels, and in this way to achieve progress in the optimization of combustion processes.
Activities are centered on processes of technological combustion systems controlled by chemical kinetics, such as pollutant formation, ignition behavior, heat release and flame velocities. Another key focus in this regard is on biogenic and synthetic fuels and fuel mixtures, which have attracted strong interest in recent years in the context of the CO2 emissions problem.