Excursion week at TEER
Last week, TEER offered interested students an exciting two-day program during the excursion week.
On Wednesday the program started with a workshop at our institute, which included a practical and a theoretical part. First, two practical experiments were carried out in our pilot plant. Under the supervision of our research assistant Markus Lang, the determination of volatile components of different biomasses was carried out in the muffle furnace. In addition, our research assistant Lisa Feikus conducted a stove challenge together with the students: The goal was to light the single-room log furnace with as few emissions as possible (measured by CO emissions), for example by choosing different types of wood or adjusting the stove's air supply.
In the afternoon, the theoretical part of the workshop continued, which dealt with the topic of circular economy. The students were asked to work out in four groups what the circular economy could look like in 2050. The groups discussed about product design, production and distribution of products, collection concepts as well as recycling and recovery. The groups developed individual solution concepts and discussed these among themselves and with Professor Quicker.
Afterwards, the eventful day was brought to a pleasant end at a joint barbecue.
On the next day, TEER offered two excursion programs. The bioenergy course visited the AWA's biofermentation plant in Würselen. Joseph Stiller gave the students a tour of the plant and went throughthe steps of the fermentation plant with them, from the delivery of the biowaste to the final rotting. The ERT course went to the RWE Power AG power plant in Niederaussem. Dr. Jens Hannes and Felix Ringenberg offered a guided tour of the Fortuna-Nord plant. At sight, lignite is refined and hearth furnace coke (HOK) is produced. After refreshments in the canteen, the tour continued towards the power plant, where the students were able to visit the BoA block (lignite-fired power plant with optimized plant technology) of the power plant as well as the RWE Innovation Center.
We would like to express our thanks to Joseph Stiller, Dr. Jens Hannes and Felix Ringenberg for the incredibly informative excursions and are already looking forward to next semester's excursion program!