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Progress in the field of chemical energy storage using core-shell catalyst pellets
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg are conducting research on technological solutions for the energy transition, including identifying new processes in energy storage and conversion. Dr.-Ing. Ronny Tobias Zimmermann has made significant contributions to the field of chemical energy storage in his dissertation. On November 21, 2024, he was named the Best Doctoral Student in the Faculty of Process and Systems Engineering at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg.
Power-to-X reactors are used to produce chemical energy sources that will be used as raw feedstocks and fuels in the future. Carbon dioxide can be re-used as methane, the main component of natural gas. With the help of hydrogen, carbon dioxide can be converted into methane, which could serve as a resource for the chemical industry. Methanation processes release a lot of heat, which makes CO2 methanation on an industrial scale even more difficult.
“In his doctoral thesis, Dr. Ronny Zimmermann improved a key component of the reactor so that economically interesting methane yields are possible and an undesirable rise in temperature can be prevented at the same time,” says Prof. Kai Sundmacher, Director and Head of the Process Systems Engineering Department at the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg.
Large-scale energy storage on the gigawatt scale is made possible
Dr. Ronny Zimmermann has developed a process that is based on core-shell catalyst pellets and enables precise temperature control. This process can be operated in a load-flexible manner, i.e. with a fluctuating supply of the feedstock. This is relevant for large-scale applications, as green hydrogen is not always available in the same quantities due to the fluctuating supply of electricity from renewable sources. The main feature of this solution is a chemically inert - i.e. slow-reacting - porous shell that surrounds the catalyst pellets. Molecules that are to react with each other must first penetrate this shell in order to reach the chemically active core. This is where the methane is formed. The mass transport of the reactants through the shell slows down the reaction rate precisely to the extent that an excessive rise in temperature is prevented.
Dr. Ronny Zimmermann's research on pellet-shaped catalysts “contributes significantly to the reliable and productive operation of these reactors, even under highly dynamic conditions resulting from the fluctuating availability of renewable energies,” says Prof. Kai Sundmacher, explaining the importance of Dr. Ronny Zimmermann's scientific achievements. “His solution can be integrated into existing systems without additional equipment, which makes it an economically attractive option for large-scale energy storage on the gigawatt scale,” says Prof. Sundmacher.
Ronny Tobias Zimmermann was born in 1993 in Nuremberg. He received his Bachelor degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen in 2016 and his Master degree in 2018. From 2019 to 2024 he was pursuing his Ph.D. thesis as a member of the International Max-Planck Research School for Advanced Methods in Process and Systems Engineering and scientific employee at the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg and at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. In the beginning of 2024, he worked as a Simulation Engineer at Turn Energy GmbH, Munich, before he took up his position as Team Leader in the Process Systems Engineering group at the Max Planck-Institute Magdeburg in April 2024.
The Academic Ceremony is the most important event of the academic year at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. It has been held annually since the university was founded in 1993 to mark the birthday of its namesake in November. The University of Magdeburg honors its brightest minds and awards prizes to young academic talents.
https://www.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de/4695062/2024-11-26-promotionspreis-ronny-zimmer...
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