Process Development, Peat and Natural Materials Research

Process development area

The focus is mostly on the basic mechanical operations of shredding, separating, mixing and agglomerating.

  • Holistic processing of biomasses
  • Sorting
    • dispersed mixed plastic waste
    • ofmineral rawmaterials (e.g. processing of raw gravel as feedstock for the glass industry, classifying, opto-electronic mining)
    • of packaging waste
    • dispersed mixtures according to electrical conductivity, material density, dielectric properties, etc.
  • Size reduction of almost any material
  • Integration of innovative microwave technology for drying, sorting and synthesis tasks
  • Detection of single particle features (e.g. infrared detection) within material streams
  • Plastics analysis (DSC, TGA, tensile-compression testing)

Surface engineering area

  • Surface pretreatments
  • Surface activations and coatings by means of low pressure and atmospheric pressure plasma technology
  • Determination of coating and surface properties
  • Fracture-resistant and strength-optimized component design
  • Adhesive bonding technology

Bioeconomy area

  • Multi-criteria sustainability assessment of regional circular economy and bioeconomy strategies
  • Further development of waste treatment plants into cycle-oriented biorefineries
  • Conceptualization and evaluation of innovative biomass utilization strategies and cascade utilization strategies (e.g. in the areas of plant carbon and whole plant utilization)
  • Co-creative development, monitoring and evaluation of operational decarbonization technologies and pathways and municipal climate protection strategies as well as technology coupling options between the public sector and companies
  • Evaluation of cross-company by-product utilization options in the field of bioeconomy and bioenergy(industrial symbiosis)

Soil science area

Investigations are carried out to:

  • Survey of pedological and soil mechanical parameters
  • Water storage capacities
  • Water balance layers
  • Quantification of the evapotranspiration capacity
  • Establishment of plant stands to support slope stability
  • Rooting of soils
  • Use of engineered soil substrates
  • Microplastics in soil
  • Phosphate elimination
  • Peat and humic substances
Website

iTN [de]

Head
Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Jürgen Schoenherr
ZIRKON | Zittauer Institut für Verfahrensentwicklung, Kreislaufwirtschaft, Oberflächentechnik, Naturstoffforschung
02763 Zittau
Friedrich-Schneider-Straße 26
Building Z IX, Room 112
Obergeschoss
+49 3583 612-4804