(Düsseldorf) – The North Rhine-Westphalian Innovation and Energy Minister Andreas Pinkwart has awarded four research papers on the topic of hydrogen the “Energy Research Prize 2020”. As part of the Energy Research Offensive.NRW, theses from young scientists at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia were awarded prizes in the bachelor, master and dissertation categories. A special jury prize was also awarded.
“Exciting ideas, innovative technologies and progressive practices are of central importance for a climate-neutral industry and the success of the energy transition,” explained Minister Pinkwart. “The state government would like to strengthen research in this area and thus significantly advance North Rhine-Westphalia on the way to becoming a hydrogen country.”
Prize for bachelor's thesis: Jens Peitzmeier
Jens Peitzmeier from the Münster University of Applied Sciences impressed the jury with his work on studies of biohydrogen production with subsequent biogas production in the bachelor's thesis category. (Prize money 1000 euros)
Prize for master's thesis: Dennis Faber
Dennis Faber from TU Dortmund was honored in the master's thesis category. As part of a case study, he researched the development of a method for evaluating suitable locations for power-to-gas systems in the electrical energy supply system. In cooperation with the Institute for Energy Systems, Energy Efficiency and Energy Economics (ie3) at TU Dortmund, the company Thyssengas has developed a process for identifying and evaluating suitable locations for power-to-gas systems for converting electricity from renewable energies into green gases. As part of a case study, the location analysis process was implemented and used as an example. (Prize money: 2.000 euros)
Prize for dissertation: Steffen Schemme
Steffen Schemme from RWTH Aachen University was honored in the dissertation category. He had compared hydrogen-based production processes for various fuels. “The doctoral thesis presents a holistic picture of power-to-fuel processes and products and provides the basis for the integration of power-to-fuel concepts into the simulation of fuels and energy supply strategies,” said the jury. (Prize money 3000 euros)
Special Jury Prize: Tobias Löffler
The special jury prize went to Tobias Löffler from the Ruhr University Bochum. In his dissertation, he researched ways to develop novel electrocatalysts for energy conversion. According to the jury, the work is a “substantial contribution to solving the problem of necessary energy storage in connection with the volatile electricity supply from renewable sources” and “efficient energy conversion through electrochemical conversion in fuel and electrolysis cells” in the energy transition. The scientific findings from this work are already being incorporated into a concrete application as part of the future cluster initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The jury special prize is an ideal prize: the prize winner receives the opportunity to present their work in a specialist forum.
A five-person scientific jury assessed the submitted works based on several criteria: quality of the scientific thesis, consistency with the strategies and goals of North Rhine-Westphalia energy research, relevance for North Rhine-Westphalia as a research and business location and transferability of the research results into practice.
Photos
Minister Pinkwart at the award ceremony for the “Energy Research Prize 2020” in January / ©MWIDE NRW
