The main topics of research and development activities at the Institute of Combustion Technology (VT) are technical combustion processes focused on combustion in gas turbines. The fundamental goal is the optimisation of gas turbine combustion chambers with regard to efficiency, flexibility, reliability and emissions. In addition, new technologies should be developed and achieve marketability in cooperation with industrial partners.
A guiding theme of the Institute is the bridge spanned from combustion science to combustion technology. About 100 members of staff work in the specialist areas Chemical Kinetics, Computer Simulation, Gas Turbines, Combustion Diagnostics, Multiphase Flow and Alternative Fuels, Chemical Analytics, High-Pressure Experiments and Mass Spectrometry. The institute was founded in Cologne and moved to Stuttgart in 1965, where it was renamed into the Institute of Combustion Technology in 1998.