Student research projects & theses

Abstract

As part of the energy transition, natural gas is to be used as a bridging technology from coal to renewable energies. To store natural gas in large quantities, it is compressed and stored underground in caverns under high pressure. During the storage period, the natural gas absorbs moisture from the cavern walls, which must be removed before it can be fed into the gas grid. Adsorption columns are used for this purpose, through which the natural gas flows and transfers its moisture to a solid. Before an adsorber can be used again, it must be regenerated with another gas. In this process, the previously adsorbed water is desorbed again.
In this work, the heat transfer during both adsorption and desorption will be investigated. First, all heat transfer mechanisms will be analyzed and their influence will be evaluated. In the end, a program shall be developed, with which the heat transfer in an adsorber can be represented and calculated.

Task definition

• Literature research on heat transfer in adsorbers
• Identification of relevant parameters for heat transfer in adsorbers
• Development of a programme to describe the heat transfer mechanisms
• Application and validation of the programme for a defined operating point
• Detailed documentation and presentation of the work in a written paper
• Presentation of the results within the framework of a lecture

Your profile

• Student of mechanical engineering, energy technology or similar courses of study
• Independent, conscientious and structured way of working
• Knowledge of heat transfer, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics
• Interest in programming (e.g. Python, MATLAB, etc.)
• Ideally previous knowledge of programming