Institute of Combustion and Power Plant Technology (IFK)

The Institute of Combustion and Power Plant Technology (IFK) focuses on thermal power plant technology as well as power plant and grid systems in research and teaching.

The work areas of the Department of Decentralised Energy Conversion (DEU) lie in the optimisation of combustion and gasification processes in the field of generating heat and electricity from biogenic and fossil fuels. Based on many years of work, the department has gained extensive experience in the field of high-temperature fluidised bed technology. With the help of fluidised bed processes, new processes are being developed for the conversion of biomass and biogenic residues to synthesis gas with simultaneous capture of CO₂ (sorption-assisted reforming). Various experimental plants are available for the experimental investigations (several fluidised bed plants, cold models, bio-oil-fired refrigeration plant).

The Flue Gas Cleaning and Air Quality Control (RuL) department deals with the reduction of pollutant formation, flue gas cleaning, studies on pollutant loads in the outdoor air, and indoor air pollution. In addition to optimising low-emission combustion technology for small and medium-sized combustion systems, various emission-reducing techniques for downstream flue gas cleaning are being developed. The focus here is on catalytic denitrification systems (DeNO_x), flue gas scrubbers, CO₂ separation, fabric filters and electrostatic precipitators, as well as techniques for separating mercury and other heavy metals. Various experimental test facilities on a laboratory and pilot plant scale are available for this purpose. In addition, processes for pyrolytic conversion of biomass and biogas treatment are currently being researched. In the area of immission, research projects focus on metrologically accompanied investigations of air quality and the urban climate in conurbations. The further development and investigation of low-cost sensors and their use in measurement networks has been accelerated in recent years. Further research is being conducted in the area of indoor air quality.