Circular Economy and Recent Developments in Polymerization Technology
The lecture deals with current challenges in the polymer chemistry and plastics industry with the focus on circularity, additive manufacturing, and digitalization/modeling. The concept of circular economy will be introduced using plastics as an example. Mechanical and chemical recycling, life cycle assessment and waste management in an industrial context will be explained. Additive manufacturing technologies and equipment will be introduced, and 3D-printed equipment at laboratory and industrial scale, as well as application examples for reactors and reactions, will be covered. In addition, digitization and modeling will be introduced as an important component of polymerization technology.
TC 10 – Technical Aspects of Macromolecular Chemistry
The students will gain an insight on the basics and state of the art of polymer reaction engineering. That includes polymerization kinetics emphasizing radical polymerization, methods to determine kinetic coefficients and modeling lab- and industrial scale polymerization processes. The importance of modeling is pointed out using examples and a workshop. The workshop deepens the understanding and role of modeling in polymerization reaction engineering and enables the students to apply their newly learned knowledge.
TC11 – High Pressure Technology – Chemistry under High Pressures
The application of high pressure is of great importance for a wide range of technical processes. The students will get an overview of the thermodynamic and kinetic basics as motivation for the use of high pressure. In addition, a broad overview of existing high pressure processes and their industrial relevance is elaborated. An important aspect is the technical implementation of high pressures in terms of equipment, materials and general infrastructure.