Prof. Dr. Sebastian Engell, Process Dynamics and Operations Group of the Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering of TU Dortmund (Principal Investigator), and Prof. Dr. Hans Georg Bock, Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing of Universität Heidelberg (Co-Investigator), have been selected for an ERC Advanced Investigator Grant by the expert panel of the European Research Council. The overall funding of 3.5 million € is recommended for the joint project »Model-based Optimizing Control – from a vision to industrial reality«.
The two researchers have already been closely cooperating in the field of optimization-based control for years. The goal of this project is to overcome obstacles for the industrial application of optimization-based control by developing methods for the enhanced robustness and failure tolerance and for the reduction of the modeling effort as well as by developing new concepts for the interaction with the plant operators. In addition, the idea of optimizing control will be extended to the start-up and shut-down of plants where discrete switches take place. The project includes experimental validation and demonstration, in particular for a reactive distillation column in pilot plant scale in cooperation with the Fluid Separations Group at TU Dortmund headed by Prof. Andrzej Górak. The start of the project is planned for April 1, 2012.
The Advanced Investigator Grants are the most highest and most prestigious individual research grants in Europe. The target group of the ERC Advanced Grants are established active researchers with an outstanding academic record of achievements in the last 10 years.
The aim of the research funding by the ERC is to reinforce excellence, dynamism and creativity of research in Europe and to increase the attractiveness of Europe for the best researchers from Europe and all over the world as well as for industrial research investments.