Uwe Riedel is the director of the DLR-Institute of Low-Carbon Industrial Processes in Cottbus and Zittau founded in 2019. The focus is on the specific requirements and research needs for the decarbonization of energy-intensive industrial sectors (power plants, steel production, cement industry, petrochemical industry, chemical industry.

As a professor in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Stuttgart, his field of work is the physicochemical properties of conventional and synthetic fuels with a focus on aviation fuels. From 2015 to 2019, he was the project leader of the two DLR cross-sectional projects "Future Fuels", which conduct cross-sectoral research on future fuels in energy, transport, aviation and space.
Uwe Riedel holds a doctorate in physics and a habilitation in physical chemistry from the University of Heidelberg.

Abstract

Role of Electrification in Decarbonizing Industrial Processes

Environmental protection has gained considerably in importance since climate change has been recognized as one of the most difficult challenges for mankind. Despite agreed climate targets, global emissions of Greenhouse gases have actually increased over the last three decades. Especially in the energy-intensive industrial sector, there is still great potential for CO₂-reduction, which has not yet been exploited.

CO₂-emissions from industry are hard to abate for a number of reasons. Decarbonization usually requires a mix of measures to tackle energy related as well as process relates emissions. Nevertheless, as part of the efforts in the electrification of heat, the efficient decarbonization of heat in the temperature range 200 – 600 Celsius is possible based on novel high-temperature heat pumps (HTHP) under development at the new Institute of Low-Carbon Industrial Processes of the German Aerospace Center.

The talk will introduce different decarbonization options for the industrial sector, give an overview on the research of the new Institute, and details the principles of the novel HTHPs.