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Nominee 2023

Resilience for the gas supply

Resilience for the gas supply – 3D Recu burner lowers natural gas consumption and opens up a future for hydrogen in industry

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jens te Kaat (Spokesperson)
Bernd-Henning Feller, M.Sc.
Dan-Adrian Moldovan, M.Sc.
Kueppers Solutions GmbH, Dortmund

(f.l.t.r.) Bernd-Henning Feller, M.Sc., Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jens te Kaat,
Dan-Adrian Moldovan, M.Sc.

Many branches of industry need large amounts of heat to manufacture their products – heat that until now was produced from natural gas. Yet supplies of this important energy carrier were insecure for quite some time after the start of the war in Ukraine and the end of deliveries from Russia, constituting a threat for many economic sectors. It proved that the best way to hedge against possible supply bottlenecks in the short term is a considerable reduction in natural gas consumption. In the long term, the goal when it comes to the supplying of so-called thermal process heat is to move away from fossil energy carriers to renewables – also in an attempt to avoid greenhouse gas emissions. How can these challenges be overcome as quickly and as smoothly as possible?

Jens te Kaat, Bernd-Henning Feller and Dan-Adrian Moldovan have designed a system that can provide the basis for this. The three nominees developed a burner capable of supplying the heat needed for different industrial applications much more efficiently from natural gas and thus at a much lower cost than conventional units. In this way, emissions of CO2 that are harmful to the climate as well as nitrogen compounds that damage both the environment and health can be greatly reduced.

The system also has the option of using not only natural gas but other gases as fuel – specifically, hydrogen that is considered a key element for the ongoing energy transition. Jens te Kaat is Managing Director of Kueppers Solutions in Dortmund, Bernd-Henning Feller is development engineer and a member of the management board, Dan-Adrian Moldovan heads the development and simulation division at the company.

Thermal processing facilities are enclosed industrial furnaces in which products or materials are manufactured or heat-treated at high temperatures. They are essential in many sectors. Vast amounts of process heat are needed by cement factories, glassworks, chemical production plants and in the production of steel. Up to now natural gas was usually used to generate the heat. The companies that run on natural gas are among the largest purchasers of this fossil resource, and not just in Germany. If natural gas were not available in sufficient quantities, this could lead to production downtimes and great economic damage. For that reason alone it would be wise to keep demand for fuel for process heat as low as possible. A highly efficient burner technology can provide the basis for this. In addition, lower natural gas consumption also reduces climate-damaging emissions produced by combustion. This would be another important contribution to climate protection.

With the iRecu® recuperator burner, the three nominees have developed a system suitable for use in most industrial applications in the thermal processing industry. Where it is used, it lowers demand for natural gas – and thus CO2 emissions – by 12 to 50 percent compared to conventional burners. It also reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides, NOx in shorthand chemical notation, by more than half. These chemical compounds which are formed in considerable amounts by the generation of thermal process heat in normal burners are harmful to the environment and health.

The reason why the new system emits comparatively lower levels of pollutants harmful to the climate, environment and health is its high efficiency. This in turn is achieved by particularly effective heat recovery from the burning of waste gases – and the result of a combination of several innovations.

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This includes the use of a heat exchanger with triply periodic minimal surface – a mathematically complex structure that provides very efficient energy transfer. The iRecu also contains an innovative gas-air mixing unit. Its purpose is to distribute the gases involved in the reaction within the burner uniformly and thereby to guarantee precisely dosed and low-emission combustion. In another novel approach, all, and in some cases very sophisticated components are produced by a 3D printer. This means every conceivable design configuration of burner components can be manufactured – depending on the respective operational requirements. In this way, existing facilities can be converted to the modern technology within just a few weeks and at a reasonable cost.

Finally, the system the team from Kueppers Solutions developed uses a so-called duel fuel technology. It is capable of producing process heat not just from natural gas, but also, for example, from biogas or hydrogen. The fuels can either be used in their pure form or as a blend of any desired combination – or can alternately be used to fire the burner. The system’s supplying this level of flexibility paves the way to the transition from fossil energy carriers to those from renewable sources, above all, hydrogen. This gas can be extracted from water. If wind or solar power are used for the extraction, the hydrogen is largely climate neutral. But the production of “green” hydrogen has so far been expensive and for the moment is only being practiced on a small scale. Until it is available in quantities that will allow it to serve as the sole heat supplier, the new burner technology makes a seamless transition possible. During this time, plant operators can gradually reduce their CO2 and NOx emissions.

The first companies in Germany have already begun relying on the highly efficient and comparably clean technology. Steel producers Mannesmann and ThyssenKrupp have been using it since the end of 2022 to generate heat for their production plants. The additional market volume for the system is enormous. In Germany alone, around two million industrial burners with an output between 25 and 300 kilowatts are currently operated of which at least every fourth could be replaced directly. Globally, it is estimated that there around 80 million burners in use with an exchange potential of 30 percent.

If the new technology were used in Germany, it would be possible to save one percent of total industrial CO2 emissions. In the event of a later transition to hydrogen as the fuel gas, it would be up to eight percent. The savings potential is just as great when it comes to the emission of nitrogen oxides, providing a host of advantages for climate protection and human health.

The right to nominate outstanding achievements for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis is incumbent on leading German institutions in science and industry as well as foundations.
The project "Resilience for the gas supply – 3D Recu burner lowers natural gas consumption and opens up a future for hydrogen in industry” was submitted by Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften e.V..

Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier will present the Deutscher Zukunftspreis to one of the three nominated teams on November 22, 2023.

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Resume

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jens te Kaat

03.03.1966
Born in Münster, Westphalia
1985
Abitur (university entrance qualification) at the Aufbaugymnasium Dortmund
1986 -1988
Apprenticeship as a car mechanic
1988 - 1991
Degree course in mechanical engineering, majoring in production technology, at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts
1991 - 1998
Production engineer, later deputy production manager at Friedrich Wilhelm Schwing GmbH, Baumaschinenfabriken, Herne
1999 – 2000
Production manager at Auroflex GmbH & Co KG, Sprockhövel
2001 - 2015
Managing director, later shareholder and board member at Böcker AG, Werne
Since 2016
Shareholder and managing director at Kueppers Solutions GmbH, Dortmund

Memberships

 
Spokesperson of the Executive Board of Netzwerk Industrie RuhrOst e.V.
Münchener Kreis - Expert Panel of Construction Equipment e.V.
Monitoring committee of the "ProduktionNRW" cluster
Westfälischer Indutrieklub e.V.

Awards

2019
TOP100 Innovator: "Additively manufactured gas/air mixing unit for optimised combustion"
2019
Winner of the Efficiency Award NRW: "Innovative and resource-saving 3D-printed mixing unit for gas burners".
2020
Finalist Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry, Category: Research & Development
2022
Finalist Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry, Category: Efficient application technology
2022
Winner of the Innovation Award for Climate and Environment "iRecu® - Efficient thermoprocessing plants with H2"

Patents

 
Ten patent applications

Publications

 
Various subject-related publications and lectures at conferences

Bernd-Henning Feller, M.Sc.

27.04.1996
Born in Dorsten
2015
Abitur at the St. Ursula Gymnasium Dorsten
2015 – 2021
Studies in mechanical engineering at the Ruhr University Bochum, degree: M. Sc.
2018 – 2019
Working student at the Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e.V.
2019 – 2021
Project engineer at Kueppers Solutions GmbH; focus: Experimental development and project management in the area of new business fields
2021 – 2023
Technical Managing Director (overall authorised signatory) of Kueppers Solutions GmbH; focus: management of the technical business area and the research and development area
Juni 2023
Reduction of the operative business at Kueppers Solutions GmbH and start of the doctorate to obtain the degree of Dr.-Ing. at the Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e.V.
Since 2023
Project manager in the industrial and firing technology department of the Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e.V.

Awards

2019
TOP100 Innovator: "Additively manufactured gas/air mixing unit for optimised combustion"
2019
Winner of the Efficiency Award NRW: "Innovative and resource-saving 3D-printed mixing unit for gas burners"
2020
Finalist Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry, Category: research & development
2022
Finalist Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry, Category: efficient application technology
2022
Winner of the Innovation Award for Climate and Environment: "iRecu® - Efficient thermoprocessing plants with H2"

Patents

 
Two patent applications

Publications

 
Various technical publications

Dan-Adrian Moldovan, M.Sc.

02.01.1988
born in Bucharest
2008
High school graduation (Abitur), Bert-Brecht-Gymnasium in Dortmund, Germany
2008 - 2019
Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (M.Sc.), Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
2018
Internship at Kueppers-Solutions GmbH
Since 2019
Development and simulations engineer at Kueppers-Solutions GmbH,Responsible for designing and CFD simulation of the additive manufactured gas/air mixing unit and recuperator.

Scholarships

2017
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), German Academic Exchange Service

Awards

2017 – 2018
Academic education and further training in the People's Republic of China as part of a project of the Sino-German University College (CDHK) at Tongji University in Shanghai
2019
TOP100 Innovator: A mixing unit manufactured through metallic 3D printing for combustion optimization and reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions.
2019
Efficiency Award NRW: Innovative Design, Recyclability, and Nitrogen Oxide Reduction.
2020
Finalist of the Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry, Category: Research and Development
2022
Innovation Award for Climate and Environment: iRecu® - H2-Ready Series Burner with Optimized Heat Recovery
2022
Finalist of the Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry, Category: Efficient Application Technology

Patents

2020
Co-inventor of two filed patents/patent application

Publications

2020
Publication: Process Heat, Recuperator Burner from 3D Printing for Efficient Heat Recovery

Contact

Coordination and Press

Domenik Prüßmann
Geschäftsleitung / Prokurist
Kueppers Solutions GmbH
Robert-Schuman-Str. 6
Phone: +49 (0) 209 / 36 17 22 168
Mobil: +49 (0) 151 / 72 97 58 21
E-Mail: domenik.pruessmann@kueppers-solutions.de
Web: www.kueppers-solutions.de

Spokesperson

Jens te Kaat
Geschäftsführer
Kueppers Solutions GmbH
Robert-Schuman-Str. 6
Phone: +49 (0) 209 / 36 17 22 140
Mobil: +49 (0) 160 / 53 43 985
E-Mail: jens.tekaat@kueppers-solutions.de
Web: www.kueppers-solutions.de

A description provided by the institutes and companies regarding their nominated projects

Resilience for the gas supply – 3D Recu burner lowers natural gas consumption and opens up a future for hydrogen in industry

Increase efficiency immediately, in future also with hydrogen. The energy demand of German industry accounts for about 30 % of Germany's total energy demand. A large part of this energy is provided by fossil natural gas. It is used, for example, to heat hydraulic pipes, to produce packaging sheet for biscuit tins or to roast our breakfast coffee. In this context, industry offers good access to a few, usually large consumers, in contrast to the small-scale nature of private households or the transport sector, for example. The Ukraine war has worsened the availability of natural gas in Germany, and in the course of the energy transition fossil gas must be replaced quickly by green gases anyway. Hydrogen is a promising alternative, but requires technical adjustments in current industrial plants, which typically remain in operation for 30 to 50 years.

Natural gas savings make it possible to get started. With the iRecu, the developers at Kueppers Solutions have created a system that makes existing industrial heat treatment plants more energy-efficient by means of an innovative heat exchanger. The heat exchangers, also known as recuperators, enable an immediate natural gas and thus cost saving of over 10 %, which immediately refinances a plant conversion. At the same time, the introduction of hydrogen is prepared, as the plant can be operated flexibly with both natural gas and hydrogen after the conversion. Thanks to customised burners, there is usually no need to replace other components, which minimises the conversion effort and increases acceptance - a principle comparable to replacing light bulbs with energy-saving lamps, which saves costs, energy and resources.

Become H2-ready and invest safely in the future. A conversion to the iRecu makes plants "hydrogen-ready" at the same time - regardless of whether green hydrogen is already available or not yet. The different combustion characteristics of natural gas and hydrogen normally require a plant conversion. However, the iRecu offers the flexibility to switch back and forth between fuels without conversion, comparable to an electric hybrid car. In this way, industrial companies avoid standstills and expensive conversions when hydrogen is not available - the motto is: switching instead of shutting down.

CO2 , NOx and other pollutants. The pollutant "nitrogen oxide" is produced every time a fuel is burned hot with the oxidant air. The higher the temperature during combustion, the more the nitrogen in the air reacts with the oxygen and forms nitrogen oxides. With this thermally induced NOx there is a conflict of goals: On the one hand, one wants to optimise the combustion, i.e. usually make it hotter. This is done, for example, through the improved heat exchanger, which saves fuel and thus CO2 , but increases NOx emissions. Since hydrogen burns hotter than natural gas, NOx emissions increase again significantly with the conversion. This must be avoided, as nitrogen oxides are harmful to the environment and health.

To reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides, the gas-air mixing unit is designed with separate channels for natural gas and hydrogen for optimal combustion of the respective fuel. The entire fuel gas is to react and thus the energy stored in the fuel gas is to be utilised. At the same time, however, pollutant emissions, especially nitrogen oxides, are to be minimised. For this purpose, natural gas and hydrogen are fed to the combustion system via two separate channel systems, each with adapted flow rates and mixing ratios. In addition, the speed of the incoming combustion air, which is greatly accelerated by the heating, is used to drive a jet pump. This ensures a strong mixing of the inflowing gas mixture with exhaust gas even before the mixture is fed to the combustion. The fuel gas is "diluted" with hot exhaust gas, which reduces nitrogen oxide emissions. The good thing is that this dilution is even more effective with hydrogen combustion than with natural gas. Thus, in addition to the NOx increase due to the improved heat exchanger, the increase due to the hotter combustion of hydrogen is also compensated.

Digital value creation of tomorrow. The production of the iRecu is made possible by a largely digitalised value chain: The heat exchanger uses mathematically complex TPMS structures that can only be calculated using computer programmes. Understanding these structures, manufacturing them economically and in a process-safe manner and designing them in such a way that they optimally meet the requirements of the respective system was a major challenge for the developers at Kueppers Solutions. In total, more than four years of intensive development work were necessary until the delivery of the first recuperators could begin in October 2022. These TPMS structures (Triply Periodic Minimal Surface) can only be produced with the help of 3D printing and were therefore not possible to manufacture a few years ago. The optimised flow guidance within the structure means that the energy in the hot exhaust gas is transferred to the combustion air flowing into the process better than the current state of the art allows. Otherwise, the energy in the flue gas - if it is not transferred to the combustion air - is released into the environment via the chimney and remains unused.

The gas-air mixing unit with its separate channels can also only be produced using metallic 3D printing and is calculated beforehand using computer programmes. The last essential component, the jet pump, could theoretically also be produced conventionally. However, here too, the best properties are achieved by printing this component. A lot of digital work is necessary in advance before the "Print" button can finally be pressed.

The 3-D printer essentially produces these parts automatically and appropriately for the application. In the printing process - if everything has been calculated correctly beforehand - different components can be built on the 3-D printer without additional effort, quasi as custom-made production in series production. The effort here lies mainly in the digital adaptation of the print files. The production process of the iRecu is thus a blueprint for the digital production of the future, in which the resulting customised product is manufactured in a highly automated way exactly according to the customer's requirements. This digital value chain enables Kueppers Solutions to be the technology leader in the production of recuperators today.

The industrial energy transition begins today. The iRecu was launched at the end of 2022. Convincing results have already been achieved in the first converted plants: at Mannesmann Precision Tubes in Hamm, 14.2 %, and at thyssenkrupp Rasselstein in Andernach, 12.9 % energy could be saved, without any additional plant engineering effort. With the dual-fuel recuperative burner iRecu, a direct and immediate contribution can be made to achieving climate targets and maintaining Germany as a business location.

Kueppers Solutions GmbH, Dortmund

Kueppers Solutions GmbH, based in Dortmund, was created from the "Heat Technology Division" of Küppersbusch AG in 2016. Its focus is on recuperator burners produced using metallic 3D printing and components for increasing efficiency in thermoprocessing technology.

Contact Dipl.-Ing. Jens te Kaat, Managing Partner, M. Sc. Bernd-Henning Feller, M. Sc. Dan-Adrian Moldovan

Further information: www. kueppers-solutions.de/

The right to nominate outstanding achievements for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis is incumbent on leading German institutions in science and industry as well as foundations.
The project "Resilience for the gas supply – 3D Recu burner lowers natural gas consumption and opens up a future for hydrogen in industry” was submitted by Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften e.V..

Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier will present the Deutscher Zukunftspreis to one of the three nominated teams on November 22, 2023.

Nominee 2023 · TEAM 1

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