Dr.-Ing. Szilárd Bucs

Dr.-Ing. Florencia Saravia

Problem:The transition into a net-zero economy and a decarbonized energy supply system goes in hand with the generation of (green) hydrogen and its downstream products from renewable energies, so-called Power-to-X. Water is an essential input in such facilities and must be supplied with a high quality to ensure their proper operation. Depending on the local conditions (i.e., onshore or offshore, energy sources, regulations) as well as the characteristics of the water resources and the target quality, different novel as well as established suitable technologies may be implemented. Each of them having their respective advantages and challenges from an operation point of view.

Task:

Membrane systems such as reverse osmosis is a suitable technology to deliver high-quality water for green hydrogen production, however, they are prone to fouling which results in performance decline and operation cost increase. Therefore, monitoring and understanding fouling development in such systems is crucial for long-term and stable operation. This work aims to develop an automated scanning and image processing system to detect and analyze in-situ fouling in lab and pilot-scale membrane systems. Additionally, strategies to delay, mitigate and remove fouling will be explored.