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Focus on efficiency and environmental protection
Dr. Friedhelm Herzog is Senior Manager Application Technology Industry at Messer. He started his career with the company 32 years ago in Engineering. Later he held positions in Research & Development as well as Application Technologies and Sales Strategy. Today his work mainly involves process optimization, energy efficiency improvement, and minimization of the ecological footprint.
What does “Application Technology Industry” mean at Messer?
We develop tailor-made solutions for a wide range of processes. Our customers come from many different areas of industrial production, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, plastics and rubber, electronics, industrial manufacturing, aluminum processing, and construction. We can use mobile pilot plants to test our technologies under real operating conditions and ensure that they meet the customers’ requirements. Our work involves such things as recovering solvents, purifying exhaust gases, increasing the energy efficiency of processes, and recycling products or making them more sustainable. The department comprises eight experts in Krefeld based directly at one of Messer’s competence centers. We work very closely together with other Messer teams in Europe, Asia and the Americas. And we also collaborate with universities, research centers, and sales partners.
How are gases related to energy efficiency?
Let’s take the manufacture of modern pharmaceuticals or fine chemicals, for example, where certain process steps require both very low and relatively high temperatures: gases help steer the course of the synthesis in the right direction or increase product yield. This means, for example, that after a phase with high temperature, a reactor must be cooled down to minus 100 degrees Celsius very rapidly. Cryogenic gases play a role in this case. Unlike in conventional cooling with vapor-compression refrigeration systems, which operate very inefficiently at extremely low temperatures, the cooling effect of liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degree Celsius is readily available immediately. Our Cryocontrol process makes it possible to cool reactors down within a few minutes – saving a lot of time and energy as a result. The liquid nitrogen evaporated in this process is then used in its gaseous state for other applications such as inerting, thereby making full use of the gas.
How can gases help with exhaust gas treatment?
One of the greatest challenges here is the recovery of solvents. Among other things, they are needed in the manufacture of chemicals or pharmaceutical products. They then escape from the reactors as volatile organic compounds. Of course, they must not be allowed to enter the atmosphere, but rather they must be captured and treated. This is also required by law. Cryogenic condensation is an effective and economical method of achieving this objective. Messer has developed and patented suitable processes for this, such as the DuoCondex process, which uses the cooling power of liquid nitrogen. Here the exhaust gas flows through a cryogenic condenser; the volatile substances condense inside and are easily separated from the gas stream. The recovered solvents can then either be recycled for use in production or disposed of safely. At the same time, this keeps the condenser from freezing and prevents the formation of aerosols in the process gas. This method makes optimal use of available resources and minimizes the ecological footprint.
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Messer has developed and patented suitable processes for this, such as the DuoCondex process, which uses the cooling power of liquid nitrogen.
What role can superconductivity play in efficient power transmission?
Superconductivity is opening up new possibilities for power transmission over short distances, because hardly any line losses occur along the way. That saves energy and – with electricity generated from fossil fuels – reduces CO₂ emissions. Moreover, a superconducting cable can transmit about five times more electrical power than a conventional cable of the same cross-sectional area, and no minimum distances need to be maintained, because it emits neither heat nor electromagnetic fields. That reduces space requirements, both above and below ground. To achieve the superconducting state, the special ceramic cables must be cooled down to an extremely low temperature. For this purpose, Messer has developed a new cooling technology that vaporizes liquid nitrogen at sub-atmospheric pressure, thereby reaching a temperature of minus 209 degrees Celsius. This system has proven reliable in the Ampacity project, with a one-kilometer-long superconducting cable in downtown Essen, a large German city. With future developments in the technology,
conventional power lines in large cities might one day be replaced by superconducting cables, and offshore wind farms might be connected to substations on land. And superconductivity is also suitable for energy-intensive processes such as aluminum smelting, chlor-alkali chemistry, and hydrogen production by means of electrolysis, or for large data centers.
Are there other development projects associated with the energy transition?
One technological solution already helping customers in this regard is the EcoVap vaporizer. Where liquefied gases are vaporized for use in industrial processes, it “harvests” the cooling power generated as a result and makes it available for cooling processes. This can save considerable amounts of energy. In Research and Development, we are working on a range of innovations to meet key challenges. These include, for example, the recycling of electric vehicle batteries as well as the development of a hydrogen cooling system for the rapid and reliable refueling of hydrogen-powered vehicles.