Engineering of tailored secondary oxide raw materials for sustainable solar heat absorber and storage media

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Bernd Friedrich; Dr. Peter Mechnich
• Subject Area: Glass, Ceramics and Derived Composites ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials ; Metallurgical, Thermal and Thermomechanical Treatment of Materials
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528382263

Scattering chemical composition is an obstacle for the employment of sustainable, secondary raw materials for the manufacturing of engineering materials. In this research, it is aimed to establish and assess a scientific methodology enabling the targeted synthesis of engineered secondary raw materials from metallurgical residues and recycled fine ceramics as additives. As a use case, fayalitic byproducts, commonly generated in nonferrous metallurgy, and ceramic processing residues shall be investigated as secondary resources for ceramic particles with specific thermal, optical and structural properties which are developed as high-temperature resistant absorber and storage media in concentrated solar power plants (CSP). Ceramic processing residues (ZrO2 and TiO2) will be added as dopants to the fayalitic pyrometallurgical by-products to tune the crystallization process and products of smelting process aiming to improve functional properties. Material design and syntheses include adapted doping/smelting/cooling and subsequent heat treatment processes, accompanied by thermochemical modelling. Characterization includes phase- and microstructural evolution as well as thermo-physical properties of derived engineered new ceramics. Properties will be compared with the state-of-the-art ceramic particles prepared from unmodified raw materials in order to compare the new methodology. Thermodynamic modelling and experimental results will be combined to validate this research's hypotheses and to design a generalized, integrated model workflow to transform metallurgical by-products into value added artificial minerals.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Italy
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Enrico Bernardo, Ph.D.