The Young Scientist Awards were presented for the third time at the international conference “Climate Protection through Fuels” in Vienna in September. According to the website, the award recognizes scientific work that makes an important contribution to the energy transition through its innovative strength. 

In his thesis entitled “3D CFD Simulation for the Use of Ammonia in Combustion Engines,” Dipl.-Ing. Konstantin Schmidt examined the use of ammonia as a fuel. He describes his research as follows: 

"Due to its unfavorable combustion properties, low flame speed, high ignition energy, and high autoignition temperature, standard combustion processes are rather unsuitable for ammonia. I have therefore designed a new combustion process and demonstrated its functionality through simulation. By pre-combusting a small amount of hydrogen, the combustion chamber temperature required to ignite the ammonia can be reached. This enables completely CO₂-free engine operation. A patent has now been granted for the combustion process."

Konstantin Schmidt studied mechanical engineering, specializing in power and rail vehicle technology. He conducts research at the Chair of Combustion Engineering and Drive Technology and is a doctoral candidate at the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group.

We congratulate Konstantin Schmidt on this award and wish him continued success in his research.