On 4 March, the University and Paul Wurth, a leading player in the design and supply of technological solutions for steelmaking and a company of the SMS group, announced the creation of the new Paul Wurth Chair in Energy Process Engineering at the University’s Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine. The chair will tackle questions at the forefront of research on future energy systems, particularly hydrogen and its use in industrial processes.
The steel industry is one of the big emitters of greenhouse gases and accounts for about 7% of global CO2 emissions. “As a leading partner in the global metal industry, SMS Group and Paul Wurth want to lead the transformation of the steel industry toward carbon neutral production processes […] by developing and offering ground-breaking technologies,” says Prof. Hans Ferkel, CTO of SMS group. Hydrogen is seen as an essential ingredient as it has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions substantially. Besides steel, Paul Wurth and SMS group are focusing on other industries that could also benefit from the availability of new technologies made from hydrogen – like the renewable fuel industry.
While electrification is being promoted for nearly everything mobile, there are areas in which electricity will not be the preferred green fuel option and will not be for the next decades. Luxembourg is home to one of the largest cargo aviation companies, for example, which requires large amounts of fuel. Having the possibility to offer sustainable and carbon neutral fuels will be another step towards sustainable development. Paul Wurth plans to build a sustainable fuel plant in 2022 in order to have first sustainable fuel produced in 2023 or early 2024. The production of hydrogen, the transportation and storage of hydrogen and the application in the different fields creates tremendous challenges, requiring the development of technical and scientific skills and competences to handle these challenges in the future.
Paul Wurth’s partnership with the University of Luxembourg aims to support the development of a centre of excellence in fields surrounding the emerging hydrogen economy, stimulate industrial development in process engineering and hydrogen and low carbon emission technologies, and increase the output of skilled engineers.
Supporting sustainable development is one of the key pillars of the University’s strategy. The chair is aligned with the University’s commitment to becoming a leader in sustainable development. It is also in line with the European Commission’s goal to cut CO2 emissions by 55% in the next 10 years.
The collaboration also fits into Luxembourg’s national priority research areas with strong socio-economic potential and contributes to international visibility. “With Paul Wurth and the University of Luxembourg, two partners are […] joining forces who share a sustained interest in innovation and research that is fully in line with the ambitions of the Luxembourg government,” says Claude Meisch, Minister of Higher Education and Research.