Background:
The project H2Mare focuses on the production of green hydrogen at sea using wind energy rather than using grid lines to connect to an H2 production system on land. Since the output of an offshore wind turbine is generally higher than that of the onshore turbine, the excess energy is used for H2 production. The main idea is to integrate the wind turbine into an electrolyser and therefore produce a huge advantage which led to the idea of producing further downstream products like green methanol and green ammonia.

Methanol production involves the distillation of the Methanol-water mixture in the later steps. This case is especially complicated because of offshore conditions such as wave motion and the necessity for compact size. Additive Manufacturing is the key to bringing modern solutions to such complications. Former researchers at IMVT have developed a helical distillation column which has a very good separation efficiency. The design is optimized for separating most hydrocarbon mixtures. The institute also has a distillation test rig for experimentally testing the 3D-printed columns.

The pictures above are the available 3d printing facilities available at IMVT. You can use your knowledge and imagination to build the distillation column and test rig necessary for your research.

Your tasks:
1.    You will be coding/modifying a pre-developed tool for reactors at IMVT and use it to extend the code for the distillation process.
2.    You will be designing, manufacturing and also experimentally testing different lattice structures.
3.    You will be adding different properties required for the distillation to choose the lattice structures.
4.    If necessary the conditions for offshore distillation could also be added to tool.
5.    Finally, you will write a Master thesis out of it to perfectly predict the required structure for distillation process.
6.    You are also expected to rewrite the thesis in manuscript format for publishing.

Requirements:
1.    You have a background in Chemical/Process engineering or Mechanical engineering.
2.    You are expected to do literature research, present your work and make a report as well.
3.    You have experience or understanding of separation techniques, especially Distillation.
4.    You have knowledge of CAD software like Autodesk Inventor, Rhino, etc.
5.    You are expected to have experience with 3d-printing.
6.    More interest and experience in Laboratory work.
7.    Experience with PYTHON as well to modify the tool.
8.    The work is expected to be done in English.

Remarks:
This is an open and vast topic so the focus of your work could be selected based on your profile and experience. Or You can chose the topic of your thesis based on the available research topics.
Please send your CV and Cover letter to vignesh.jayavelu@kit.edu if you are interested in the topic.

Start Date: Master Thesis – Immediately
Professor: Prof. Dr. Christoph Klahn
Supervisor: M.Sc. Vignesh Jayavelu