On Saturday, 28 April 2018, the IEC was on site as part of the Ore Mountains Project at the 23rd Day of Renewable Energies and informed about its activities with various stalls. Interested visitors took the opportunity to inform themselves about the establishment of carbon cycles for the sustainable use of resources, possibilities for energy supply in the border area and the many different study opportunities at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg (TUBAF).

A true highlight: The specially marked Segway parkour, which made the topic of electromobility an exciting experience for young and old alike. The day was rounded off by an informative lecture program that presented the attracted audience with an overview of the recycling possibilities of residual materials with the title “Too good to be burned – high-tech products made of plastic waste”.

Clichés in job selection – What’s it all about?

Once a year, schoolgirls have the opportunity to search for an answer to that question. For this year’s Girls’ Day on 26 April 2018, the Institute of Energy Process Engineering and Chemical Engineering (IEC) invited interested schoolgirls to put themselves and their perspectives to the test with the motto “Engineer 4.0 – Why leave the field to the men?”.

As part of the EU-funded further education project “Ore Mountains – new landscape, new opportunities”, 12 Czech schoolgirls from the College of Chemistry of Meziborí found their way to the IEC and informed themselves on their possible future prospects by studying process engineering. They were able to literally surpass themselves on this day and climbed the 22m high slag bath carburetor on a technical tour to the numerous pilot plants of the institute. After a short break, they learned a lot about electromobility during rapid Segway test drives.

In addition to lectures on challenges of the future and occupational fields of female engineers, the schoolgirls took part in workshops and lent a hand with the characterization of activated carbons for environmental protection as well as the research into the principle of the fluidized bed for energy production.

On 19 January 2018, we embarked on a field trip to the power plant “Boxberg” in the Upper Lusatia.

Many thanks to the organizers as well as the operator for making our visit such a great experience.

The primary aim of this field trip was getting to know the current main way of utilization for brown coal – its conversion into electricity – in practice in one of the most modern power plants.

The participating students hitherto only had theoretical knowledge of the physical, chemical and thermodynamic basics of energy conversion in a power plant. Now they were able to witness their practical application first hand, admire the impressive facilities live on site, and take the opportunity to ask all their questions.

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