River floods are extremely important to society because of their potential damage and fatalities. Floods are also very interesting research subjects because of the intriguing non-linear interactions and feedbacks involved, interesting issues of generalisation and the need for investigating them in an interdisciplinary way. Extreme floods are not very well understood to date but new, high resolution data and new concepts for quantifying interactions promise a major breakthrough of a body of research carried out in a coordinated way. The objective of this Research Unit is to understand in a coherent way the atmospheric, catchment and river system processes and their interactions leading to extreme river floods and how these evolve in space and time. An innovative and coherent concept has been adopted in order to maximise the potential of the cooperation between the research partners which consists of three layers of integration: research themes focusing on the science questions, subprojects revolving around specific research tasks, and a joint study object of extreme floods in Germany and Austria. Using scales as a binding element, the research plan is organised into the research themes of event processes, spatial (regional) variability, temporal (decadal) variability, and uncertainty and predictability. The members of the Research Unit have been selected to obtain a team of leading experts with expertise that is complementary in terms of processes, methods and regional knowledge. The cooperation and communication strategy will be implemented through themed cluster groups, combining several subprojects, regular meetings of the cluster groups, an annual project symposium and a private cloud facilitating data exchange on the joint study object. Equal opportunity policies will be adopted and female and early career scientists will be promoted in a major way. Overall, the outcomes of the Research Unit will constitute a step change in the understanding of the coupled system of flood processes in the atmosphere, catchments and rivers which will have major implications for a range of sciences and the society.
Entwicklung und Erprobung eines weiterbildenden Fernstudienganges Angewandte Umweltwissenschaften mit Diplomabschluss. Gestaltung eines kompletten online-Studienangebotes.
Ziel des Projektes ist es, die im Eurozellen-Entwicklungsprogramm gemachten Fortschritte nach der Qualifizierung in Technologiestapeln mit 20 Zellen, auch im HotModule Maßstab über längere Zeiträume zu testen. Im Rahmen des Projekts werden neben der Langzeittauglichkeit ein erstmaliger Einsatz einer teilautomatisierten DIR-Katalysatorbestückung, die Integration einer Absorptionskälteanlage und die Eignung für Gleichstromanwendung getestet. Als Testeinrichtung dient die Feldversuchsanlage in München bei der Firma PASM (vormals DeTeImmo). Der Feldversuch dort mit FCE-Zellen wurde im Jahr 2006 beendet. Die Anlage steht deshalb für Langzeitversuche mit Eurozellen zur Verfügung. Der Betrieb des Zellstapels wird durch das bereits geschulte Betriebspersonal von PASM durchgeführt, die Anlage wird vor Anlieferung des Eurozellenstapels überprüft und die Software aktualisiert.
Eine unabhaengige Assoziation, bestehend aus der Europaeischen Gemeinschaft, ihren Mitgliedstaaten und weiteren Laendern, die allesamt bestrebt sind, das wertvolle wissenschaftliche Potential der Staaten der ehemaligen Sowjetunion durch die wissenschaftliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen Ost und West zu erhalten und zu foerdern.
General Information: An increasing market is developing for the purification of off-gases from smaller power stations, heating combustion units and chemical plants producing such waste gases. It is the purpose of the project to develop the scientific and engineering fundamentals which are necessary for the industrial realisation of such processes. Based on a thermodynamic screening of possible reaction pathways several alternative routes will be investigated. This will result in the creation of new and innovative electro-catalytic processes. The thermodynamically possible reaction schemes will be investigated with respect to their kinetics. Also the economically important rate of the absorption step and the possibilities of absorption capacity enhancement will be intensively studied. Improvements of absorption column design, optimization of electrochemical packed bed cell and process steps for the product/homogeneous catalyst separation will be studied. The most promising process concepts for so2 and NOx removal will be selected and studied in pilot plants. Achievements: partners in this project developed two new electrochemical processes for gas purification. These processes produce less chemical waste by using electrons, rather than chemicals, as a reagent to remove sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide. The processes are being tested under industrial conditions and could be used for pollution control in small plants and combustion units in the future.