Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Kai Leonhard

MBFD

This junior professorship focuses on the fuel design problem as the key example of a general product design problem. Research will contribute to expanding model-based product design methods to incorporate more complex property and process models. Property models have to link molecular structure to the functional characteristics of the fuel or of the solvent in addition to thermodynamic quantities. Thereby, parameters describing functional characteristic in the engine combustion have to go far beyond Cetane or Octane numbers used today in order to account for effects on future low temperature combustion systems. Process models have to predict constraints for product design such as energetic efficiency or yield and selectivity. The research objective devises systematic strategies for the use of the advanced models and knowledge developed in the IRF-1, IRF-2 and IRF-3 for the targeted design of fuel mixtures and non-conventional solvents built from newly discovered molecules with optimised properties.

Schinkelstr. 8

Aachen

Phone: +49 241 80 98174
Email: kai.leonhard@ltt.rwth-aachen.de