Engineers from Kaiserslautern are cooperating with their Ukrainian colleagues from the Donetsk Technical University to not only better protect the components of high-temperature industrial plants against chemical and thermal stress, but also to reduce the emission of harmful gases. The joint research aims to reduce exhaust emissions from chemical production plants or from the combustion of waste materials. The researchers rely on so-called finely dispersed particles, which is a powder mixture applied as a solid layer to the surface to influence the surface’s mechanical properties and functionality.

This method is expected to help reduce cracking on surfaces and so lower the quantity of harmful emissions, such as those produced when waste is incinerated in furnaces. The exhaust gases are thus forced to pass through the provided ventilation systems before reaching the open air, allowing filters to trap most of the pollutants. In September, the Chair for Mechanical Process Engineering awarded D.Eng. Sergiy Antonyuk an honorary doctorate from the Donetsk Technical University for his work in Kaiserslautern.