On May 11 and 12, 2017, the 1st Aachen Thermoprocess Colloquium took place in Aachen on the 60th anniversary of the Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering (IOB) at RWTH Aachen University. The opportunity was used to present the status of research and development and plant engineering in industrial furnace technology and to discuss the future tasks and challenges facing the industry. With a total of 170 participants from science and industry, including numerous alumni and graduates of the institute, the event was a complete success.
In addition to the celebratory event to mark 60 years of IOB, the core of the colloquium consisted of 38 specialist presentations from science and industry. The program was rounded off by an evening event and an exhibition of companies from the sector.
The unofficial kick-off was an evening meeting at the IOB. This gave the participants who had arrived early the opportunity to visit the institute and exchange ideas over food and drinks.
The first day of the event was held in the ballroom of the Altes Kurhaus in Aachen and opened with a presentation on “Trends in thermal process technology” by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Pfeifer. This was followed by selected presentations on the main topics: Challenges for steel as a material, high-performance materials in industrial furnace construction, heat treatment, combustion, intensive cooling, digitalization and prospects for liquid energy sources against the backdrop of energy and climate policy goals. The first day of the event therefore focused primarily on current developments and future challenges for industrial furnace construction.
The subsequent festive event was introduced by a greeting from the Rector of RWTH Aachen University, Prof. Ernst M. Schmachtenberg. He emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation between science, business and industry. This was followed by a lecture on the history of the Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering from 1957 to 1998 by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Heinrich Köhne and a lecture on the more recent history and future of the IOB by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Pfeifer. The series of lectures was rounded off by a presentation on 25 years of flameless oxidation by Dr.-Ing. Wünning.
The evening event also took place in the ballroom of the Altes Kurhaus with its beautiful architecture. The day was ended with a festive banquet in a stylish atmosphere and there was once again time to honor the work of individuals and to discuss the past and future of industrial furnace construction.
The lecture program on the second day of the event included numerous specialist presentations in two parallel sessions. The Generali and Ford halls on the top floor of the SuperC of RWTH Aachen University with a view over the city of Aachen were used for this purpose.
The topics of the presentations ranged from thermoprocessing and heat treatment plants, melting and pyrolysis furnaces, burners and firing systems to energy efficiency and modeling of thermoprocesses. Some lectures also took place as part of the Aachen-Magdeburg-Freiberg(-Knorzel) Symposium, which is held annually between the universities and this year took place in Aachen. The lecture program was accompanied by a poster exhibition on current research projects. This gave the participants another opportunity to discuss detailed questions of industrial furnace construction and make new contacts.
After a successful event with a lot of positive feedback from the participants, the Aachen Thermoprocess Colloquium will now take place on a recurring basis and become a permanent fixture in the industry. The IOB would like to thank all participants and the sponsors whose support made it possible to organize the colloquium in this way.
Impressions of the 1st Aachen Thermoprocess Colloquium [Link to German version]
Program of the 1st Aachen Thermoprocess Colloquium [Link to German version]
Program of the 1st Aachen Thermoprocess Colloquium (PDF) [Link to German version]