A new topic of the ITVP is the development of specific design methods for selective materials for thermal process engineering.

Growing economic pressure and increasing limitations of health systems require extensive process improvements in the production of synthetic and biotechnological pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals.

Based on preliminary work, new materials (adsorbents, membranes, etc.) and extractants of different mechanisms such as affinity separation, adsorption, ion exchange, size exclusion and hydrophobicity are experimentally measured and characterized. The behavior of the materials should be described with appropriate theoretical models.

The field of interest is structured as follows:

1. Characterization of high-performance adsorbents in biotechnology

2. Use of selective extractants membranes and an economic alternative in fine chemicals-, pharmaceutical- and agro processes.

The aim of this work is to develop appropriate design methods that allow targeted creation of novel materials for individual applications and to realize the existing optimization potentials in pharmaceutical- and fine chemical production. Existing industrial contacts/collaborations in various fields allow for interdisciplinary cooperations.

Contact person: Dipl.-Ing. Christoph Helling