Oliver Salman successfully defended his doctoral thesis on 13 January 2025, which is titled “Modeling the Influence of Initiators on the High-Pressure LDPE Polymerization”.

The Christmas party of the working group Busch took place on December 20. The group first took part in a guided tour of the ESA's European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt. After this exciting insight into the various aspects and the ongoing missions in space travel, two rounds of laser tag in the nearby laser tag hall were on the agenda. Afterwards, the group came together at the Christmas market for mulled wine and punch. Finally, the evening was rounded off together in the Regentenstube with homestyle cooking.

On December 12, the graduation party of the winter semester took place in the department of chemistry. Twice a year, the graduates, who completed their Bachelor's or Master's degree or doctorate, are honoured at this event.

From December 10 to 12, Prof. Busch, Sandra Pietrasch, Joshua Stahl and Phillip Weigmann visited the company Borealis in Stenungsund (Sweden). The working group Busch and Borealis AG have a long-lasting cooperation in various projects.

On December 9, 2024 Isabel Kronshorst successfully defended her doctoral thesis, which is titled “Investigating Catalytic Solution Polymerisation: A Pathway to Polymer Property Control”.

This year’s Santa Claus Coffee of the working group Busch took place on December 6. Traditionally, all current and former members of the group are invited to join a cozy evening with food and drinks in a festive atmosphere. This year 18 alumni were among the total of 50 participants who attended the event.

Anton Hilfer successfully defended his doctoral thesis on 11 November 2024, which is titled “Fluid Dynamics of Thermal Ethylene Decomposition Under Supercritical Conditions”.

On 4th November 2024 Jana Sartorius successfully defended her doctoral thesis, which is titled “Kinetic and Thermodynamic Investigation by High-Pressure Calorimetry”.

The 12th PhD-Student Workshop of the EFCE Working Party on Polymer Reaction Engineering (WPPRE) took place from October 30 to 31, 2024 at the École Supérieure Chimie Physique Électronique de Lyon (CPE Lyon). The WPPRE provides a framework for young scientists in the field of polymer reaction engineering to exchange ideas with each other and to establish contacts in industry.

The sixth Hangzhou International Polymer Forum (HIPF 2024) took place in Hangzhou, China, from September 20 to 23, 2024.

On 12 and 13 September Professor Busch and Svenja Albus were invited to visit the company United Initiators in Pullach.

The 27th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering – CHISA 2024 – took place in Prague, Czech Republic, from August 25-29, 2024.

At the ASME PVP (Pressure Vessels & Piping) Conference, Aaron Röblitz was decorated with the „PVPD Conference Award“ for the outstanding technical paper „Visualization of the Decomposition and Relief Process in High-Pressure Systems“ presented on ASME PVP 2023.

This year's ChemCup, the soccer tournament of the chemistry department, took place in the university’s stadium (Hochschulstadion) on July 30. This time, a total of ten teams were put together by the different research groups of the department.

Professor Busch, Aaron Röblitz and Christoph Weigel traveled to the ASME PVP (Pressure Vessels & Piping) conference in Bellevue (Washington, USA) this year to present current research from the working group in two lectures.

On July 26, an excursion to the BASF Verbund site in Ludwigshafen took place as part of the TC1 lecture led by Dr. Kristina Zentel.

This year, six PhD students from the working group Busch participated in the ESS-HPT („The European Summer School in High Pressure Technology“) 2024, which took place from July 7 to 20 in Graz, Austria.

On July 10, the semi-annual graduation party of the department of chemistry took place, which honors the graduates, who completed their Bachelor's or Master's degree or doctorate.

The seventeenth annual meeting of Darmstadt’s Chemical Technologists with the award of the Ernst-Berl-Medal took place on 5 July 2024 at the Restaurant Oberwaldhaus.

In the context of the long-standing cooperation between the research group Busch and SCG, Professor Busch, Julian Kirsch, Alina Weber and Christoph Weigel visited the company at its Rayong site in Thailand from 22 June to 1 July.

The 17th LDPE Plant Improvement Conference took place this year from 17 to 19 June in the Latvian capital of Riga. On the conference organized by Uhde HPT, companies involved in the operation of LDPE and EVA production plants get together to exchange news and innovations in the industry.

The seminar week of the working group Busch took place this year from June 10th to 16th at the “Darmstädter Haus” in Hirschegg.

From May 26 th to 29 th 2024, the 20th European Meeting on Supercritical Fluids (EMSF) took place at the University of Maribor in Slovenia.

On May 13th 2024 Elisabeth Nowottny successfully defended her doctoral thesis, which is titled “Kinetic Modeling of the high-pressure free-radical copolymerization of ethene and vinyl acetate”.

This year’s spring hike (“Blütenwanderung”) of the TU Darmstadt research groups on technical chemistry took place on April 30th and took the participants from Jugenheim to the Kuralpe Kreuzhof in Lautertal.