The Department

Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering

The Depart­ment for Indus­tri­al Fur­naces and Heat Engi­nee­ring at RWTH Aachen Uni­ver­si­ty is an inter­na­tio­nal­ly reco­g­nis­ed rese­arch depart­ment with the mis­si­on to opti­mi­se pro­ces­ses and plants in the fields of manu­fac­tu­ring, pro­ces­sing and recy­cling of iron and steel, non-fer­rous metals, glass and ceramics.

Under the direc­tion of Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Chris­ti­an Wup­per­mann and sup­port­ed by num­e­rous stu­dent rese­arch assistants the rese­arch staff works in five rese­arch groups on cur­rent topics of indus­tri­al fur­naces and heat engi­nee­ring. The team is com­ple­ted by staff in the tech­ni­cal and admi­nis­tra­ti­ve field, working in the department‘s admi­nis­tra­ti­on and mecha­ni­cal as well as elec­tri­cal workshop.

We are hap­py to sup­port you in sol­ving pro­blems through con­tract rese­arch, ser­vice or con­sul­ting. We are fami­li­ar with num­e­rous rese­arch fun­ding pro­gram­mes and are hap­py to prepa­re a rese­arch pro­po­sal tog­e­ther with you. Our exten­si­ve know-how and equip­ment allows us to cover almost all are­as of indus­tri­al fur­nace tech­no­lo­gy and ther­mal engineering.

Our events

Aachener Ofenbau- und Thermoprozess-Kolloquium – AOTK

The Aache­ner Ofen­bau- und Ther­mo­pro­zess-Kol­lo­qui­um was held for the first time on the occa­si­on of the 60th anni­ver­sa­ry of the foun­da­ti­on of the Depart­ment for Indus­tri­al Fur­naces and Heat Engi­nee­ring (IOB) at RWTH Aachen Uni­ver­si­ty on 11 and 12 May 2017 in Aachen. In the fol­lo­wing, the Ger­man-spea­king Aache­ner Ofen­bau- und Ther­mo­pro­zess-Kol­lo­qui­um will take place every two years.
The next Aache­ner Ofen­bau- und Ther­mo­pro­zess-Kol­lo­qui­um will take place in Octo­ber 2025. Fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on on the col­lo­qui­um can be found at www.aotk.rwth-aachen.de.

European Academic Symposium on EAF Steelmaking – EASES

The Euro­pean Aca­de­mic Sym­po­si­um on EAF Steel­ma­king was held for the first time in 2015 and is aimed pri­ma­ri­ly at doc­to­ral stu­dents and young sci­en­tists rese­ar­ching and deve­lo­ping in the field of elec­tric steel­ma­king. The next sym­po­si­um wil take place on 05 — 07 June 2023 at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu in Oulu, Fin­land. For more infor­ma­ti­on on future and pre­vious EASES sym­po­sia, plea­se visit www.eases.rwth-aachen.de.

Smelting Symposium

The Smel­ting Sym­po­si­um was orga­ni­zed for the first time in 2023 and is aimed at aca­de­mia and indus­try rese­ar­ching and deve­lo­ping in the field of smel­ting reduc­tion. The next sym­po­si­um will take place online on 11th Octo­ber 2024. Fur­ther infor­ma­ti­on on future and pre­vious Smel­ting Sym­po­sia can be found here.

Network

RWTH Aachen University and our affiliated institute OWI

Memberships

Our network

History of the department

1938 Lec­ture­ship for Indus­tri­al Fur­nace Construction
1948 Chair of Indus­tri­al Plants and Indus­tri­al Fur­nace Construction
April 1957 Foun­da­ti­on of the Chair of Indus­tri­al Fur­nace Sci­ence
Asso­cia­te Pro­fes­sor H. Schiedeßen
1960 Foun­da­ti­on of the Insti­tu­te for Indus­tri­al Fur­nace Con­s­truc­tion and Heat Engi­nee­ring in Metall­ur­gy
Pro­fes­sor H. Schiedeßen
1967 Lec­ture­ship in Indus­tri­al Fur­nace Con­s­truc­tion and Heat Engi­nee­ring in Metallurgy
1971 Lec­ture­ship in Ener­gy and Mass Transport
1971 Reti­re­ment of Pro­fes­sor H. Schwiedeßen
1971–1976 Sub­sti­tu­te Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Gün­ther Woelk
1976 New appoint­ment of Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Her­bert Wil­hel­mi to the chair
1996 Reti­re­ment of Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Her­bert Wilhelmi
1996 Ren­aming of the chair to High Tem­pe­ra­tu­re Technology
11/1996–03/1998 Sub­sti­tu­te Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Hein­rich Köhne
04/1998 New appoint­ment of Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Her­bert Pfei­fer to the chair
2004 Ground­brea­king for the buil­ding of the IOB’s new tech­ni­cal centre
2007 50th anni­ver­sa­ry celebration
2009 — 2010 Con­s­truc­tion of the Insti­tu­tes new buil­ding in the Koper­ni­kus­str. 10 with an addi­tio­nal tech­ni­cal centre
2017 60th anni­ver­sa­ry celebration
03/2024 Reti­re­ment of Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Her­bert Pfeifer
03/2024 New appoint­ment of Pro­fes­sor Dr.-Ing. Chris­ti­an Wup­per­mann  to the chair
2024 Ren­aming of the chair to Sus­tainable Ther­mal Pro­ces­sing Technology