TY - CHAP A1 - Nierle, Elisabeth A1 - Pieper, Martin T1 - Measuring social impacts in engineering education to improve sustainability skills T2 - European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) N2 - In times of social climate protection movements, such as Fridays for Future, the priorities of society, industry and higher education are currently changing. The consideration of sustainability challenges is increasing. In the context of sustainable development, social skills are crucial to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, the impact that educational activities have on people, communities and society is therefore coming to the fore. Research has shown that people with high levels of social competence are better able to manage stressful situations, maintain positive relationships and communicate effectively. They are also associated with better academic performance and career success. However, especially in engineering programs, the social pillar is underrepresented compared to the environmental and economic pillars. In response to these changes, higher education institutions should be more aware of their social impact - from individual forms of teaching to entire modules and degree programs. To specifically determine the potential for improvement and derive resulting change for further development, we present an initial framework for social impact measurement by transferring already established approaches from the business sector to the education sector. To demonstrate the applicability, we measure the key competencies taught in undergraduate engineering programs in Germany. The aim is to prepare the students for success in the modern world of work and their future contribution to sustainable development. Additionally, the university can include the results in its sustainability report. Our method can be applied to different teaching methods and enables their comparison. KW - Social impact measurement KW - Key competences KW - Sustainable engineering education KW - Future skills Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.21427/QPR4-0T22 N1 - 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Technological University Dublin, 10th-14th September, 2023 N1 - Corresponding Author: Elisabeth Nierle ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rupp, Matthias A1 - Rieke, Christian A1 - Handschuh, Nils A1 - Kuperjans, Isabel T1 - Economic and ecological optimization of electric bus charging considering variable electricity prices and CO₂eq intensities JF - Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment N2 - In many cities, diesel buses are being replaced by electric buses with the aim of reducing local emissions and thus improving air quality. The protection of the environment and the health of the population is the highest priority of our society. For the transport companies that operate these buses, not only ecological issues but also economic issues are of great importance. Due to the high purchase costs of electric buses compared to conventional buses, operators are forced to use electric vehicles in a targeted manner in order to ensure amortization over the service life of the vehicles. A compromise between ecology and economy must be found in order to both protect the environment and ensure economical operation of the buses. In this study, we present a new methodology for optimizing the vehicles’ charging time as a function of the parameters CO₂eq emissions and electricity costs. Based on recorded driving profiles in daily bus operation, the energy demands of conventional and electric buses are calculated for the passenger transportation in the city of Aachen in 2017. Different charging scenarios are defined to analyze the influence of the temporal variability of CO₂eq intensity and electricity price on the environmental impact and economy of the bus. For every individual day of a year, charging periods with the lowest and highest costs and emissions are identified and recommendations for daily bus operation are made. To enable both the ecological and economical operation of the bus, the parameters of electricity price and CO₂ are weighted differently, and several charging periods are proposed, taking into account the priorities previously set. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to evaluate the influence of selected parameters and to derive recommendations for improving the ecological and economic balance of the battery-powered electric vehicle. In all scenarios, the optimization of the charging period results in energy cost savings of a maximum of 13.6% compared to charging at a fixed electricity price. The savings potential of CO₂eq emissions is similar, at 14.9%. From an economic point of view, charging between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. results in the lowest energy costs on average. The CO₂eq intensity is also low in this period, but midday charging leads to the largest savings in CO₂eq emissions. From a life cycle perspective, the electric bus is not economically competitive with the conventional bus. However, from an ecological point of view, the electric bus saves on average 37.5% CO₂eq emissions over its service life compared to the diesel bus. The reduction potential is maximized if the electric vehicle exclusively consumes electricity from solar and wind power. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102293 SN - 1361-9209 VL - 81 IS - Article 102293 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rupp, Matthias A1 - Handschuh, Nils A1 - Rieke, Christian A1 - Kuperjans, Isabel T1 - Contribution of country-specific electricity mix and charging time to environmental impact of battery electric vehicles: A case study of electric buses in Germany JF - Applied Energy Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.01.059 SN - 0306-2619 VL - 237 SP - 618 EP - 634 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Stollenwerk, Dominik A1 - Rieke, Christian A1 - Dahmen, Markus A1 - Pieper, Martin T1 - Biogas Production Modelling : A Control System Engineering Approach T2 - IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. Bd. 32 Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/32/1/012008 SN - 1755-1315 N1 - ICARET 2016, International Conference on Advances in Renewable Energy and Technologies, Putrajaya, MY, Feb 23-25, 2016 SP - 012008/1 EP - 012008/4 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Paulsen, Svea A1 - Hoffstadt, Kevin A1 - Krafft, Simone A1 - Leite, A. A1 - Zang, J. A1 - Fonseca-Zang, W. A1 - Kuperjans, Isabel T1 - Continuous biogas production from sugarcane as sole substrate T2 - Energy Reports N2 - A German–Brazilian research project investigates sugarcane as an energy plant in anaerobic digestion for biogas production. The aim of the project is a continuous, efficient, and stable biogas process with sugarcane as the substrate. Tests are carried out in a fermenter with a volume of 10 l. In order to optimize the space–time load to achieve a stable process, a continuous process in laboratory scale has been devised. The daily feed in quantity and the harvest time of the substrate sugarcane has been varied. Analyses of the digester content were conducted twice per week to monitor the process: The ratio of inorganic carbon content to volatile organic acid content (VFA/TAC), the concentration of short-chain fatty acids, the organic dry matter, the pH value, and the total nitrogen, phosphate, and ammonium concentrations were monitored. In addition, the gas quality (the percentages of CO₂, CH₄, and H₂) and the quantity of the produced gas were analyzed. The investigations have exhibited feasible and economical production of biogas in a continuous process with energy cane as substrate. With a daily feeding rate of 1.68gᵥₛ/l*d the average specific gas formation rate was 0.5 m3/kgᵥₛ. The long-term study demonstrates a surprisingly fast metabolism of short-chain fatty acids. This indicates a stable and less susceptible process compared to other substrates. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2019.08.035 N1 - 6th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research, ICEER 2019, 22–25 July, University of Aveiro, Portugal VL - 6 IS - Supplement 1 SP - 153 EP - 158 PB - Elsevier ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Augenstein, Eckardt A1 - Herbergs, S. A1 - Kuperjans, Isabel A1 - Lucas, K. ED - Kjelstrup, Signe T1 - Simulation of industrial energy supply systems with integrated cost optimization T2 - Proceedings of ECOS 2005, the 18th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation, and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems : Trondheim, Norway, June 20 - 22, 2005. - Vol. 2 Y1 - 2005 SN - 82-519-2041-8 N1 - CD-ROM-Ausg. u.d.T.: Shaping our future energy systems SP - 627 EP - 634 PB - Tapir Academic Press CY - Trondheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tix, Julian A1 - Moll, Fabian A1 - Krafft, Simone A1 - Betsch, Matthias A1 - Tippkötter, Nils T1 - Hydrogen production from enzymatic pretreated organic waste with thermotoga neapolitana JF - Energies N2 - Biomass from various types of organic waste was tested for possible use in hydrogen production. The composition consisted of lignified samples, green waste, and kitchen scraps such as fruit and vegetable peels and leftover food. For this purpose, the enzymatic pretreatment of organic waste with a combination of five different hydrolytic enzymes (cellulase, amylase, glucoamylase, pectinase and xylase) was investigated to determine its ability to produce hydrogen (H2) with the hydrolyzate produced here. In course, the anaerobic rod-shaped bacterium T. neapolitana was used for H2 production. First, the enzymes were investigated using different substrates in preliminary experiments. Subsequently, hydrolyses were carried out using different types of organic waste. In the hydrolysis carried out here for 48 h, an increase in glucose concentration of 481% was measured for waste loads containing starch, corresponding to a glucose concentration at the end of hydrolysis of 7.5 g·L−1. In the subsequent set fermentation in serum bottles, a H2 yield of 1.26 mmol H2 was obtained in the overhead space when Terrific Broth Medium with glucose and yeast extract (TBGY medium) was used. When hydrolyzed organic waste was used, even a H2 yield of 1.37 mmol could be achieved in the overhead space. In addition, a dedicated reactor system for the anaerobic fermentation of T. neapolitana to produce H2 was developed. The bioreactor developed here can ferment anaerobically with a very low loss of produced gas. Here, after 24 h, a hydrogen concentration of 83% could be measured in the overhead space. KW - Biological hydrogen KW - Organic waste KW - Dark fermentation KW - Hydrolysis KW - Pretreatment Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/en17122938 SN - 1996-1073 N1 - Corresponding author: Nils Tippkötter VL - 17 IS - 12 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Augenstein, Eckardt A1 - Kuperjans, Isabel A1 - Lucas, K. ED - Tsatsaronis,, Georgios T1 - EUSEBIA - Decision-Support-System for Technical, Economical and Ecological Design and Evaluation of Industrial Energy Systems T2 - ECOS 2002 : proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Efficiency, Costs, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems, Berlin, Germany July 3 - 5, 2002. - Vol. 1 Y1 - 2002 SN - 3-00-009533-0 SP - 446 EP - 453 PB - Techn. Univ., Inst. for Energy Engineering CY - Berlin ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kumaran, P. A1 - Gopinathan, M. A1 - Razali, N. M. A1 - Kuperjans, Isabel A1 - Hariffin, B. A1 - Hamdan, H. T1 - Preliminary evaluation of atomization characteristics of improved biodiesel for gas turbine application T2 - IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES) Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/16/1/012014 SN - 1755-1315 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 012014/1 EP - 012014/4 PB - Institute of Physics Publishing (IOP) CY - London [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cheenakula, Dheeraja A1 - Paulsen, Svea A1 - Ott, Fabian A1 - Grömping, Markus T1 - Operational window of a deammonifying sludge for mainstream application in a municipal wastewater treatment plant JF - Water and Environment Journal N2 - The present work aimed to study the mainstream feasibility of the deammonifying sludge of side stream of municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWWTP) in Kaster, Germany. For this purpose, the deammonifying sludge available at the side stream was investigated for nitrogen (N) removal with respect to the operational factors temperature (15–30°C), pH value (6.0–8.0) and chemical oxygen demand (COD)/N ratio (≤1.5–6.0). The highest and lowest N-removal rates of 0.13 and 0.045 kg/(m³ d) are achieved at 30 and 15°C, respectively. Different conditions of pH and COD/N ratios in the SBRs of Partial nitritation/anammox (PN/A) significantly influenced both the metabolic processes and associated N-removal rates. The scientific insights gained from the current work signifies the possibility of mainstream PN/A at WWTPs. The current study forms a solid basis of operational window for the upcoming semi-technical trails to be conducted prior to the full-scale mainstream PN/A at WWTP Kaster and WWTPs globally. KW - Anammox KW - Mainstream KW - Nitrogen removal KW - Partial nitritation KW - Wastewater Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12898 SN - 1747-6593 N1 - Corresponding author: Dheeraja Cheenakula VL - 38 IS - 1 SP - 59 EP - 70 PB - Wiley CY - Chichester ER -