Zühlsdorf wins “naturals” prize

GERMANY: The work of Benjamin Zühlsdorf of the Danish Technological Institute in identifying high-performing working fluid mixtures has been recognised by the “natural” refrigerants group Eurammon.

Zühlsdorf was awarded 1st place by Eurammon in its Natural Refrigeration Award 2020: Shaping the Future with Young Scientific Talent. His PhD thesis from the Technical University of Denmark investigated procedures to identify high-performing working fluid mixtures for given applications under consideration of thermodynamic and economic criteria. 

He currently works as a consultant for R&D projects at the Danish Technological Institute in the division for Energy and Climate. 

Zühlsdorf was one of three young researchers honoured. Maaike Leichsenring’s master’s thesis, a condensing flow visualisation study performed for pure ammonia on a plate heat exchanger inside an OTEC demo plant, was awarded second place. He is currently employed as a thermal engineer at Geurts International BV in Leiden.

Third place went to Fabio Giunta for his master’s thesis at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden entitled Techno-economic assessment of CO2 refrigeration systems with geothermal integration, a field measurements and modelling analysis. Gunta currently works for Energy Systems Catapult as a digital and data associate in Birmingham, UK.

In addition to being honoured with the Natural Refrigeration Award 2020, the three winners were presented with a prize money of €5,000.