Research • Educate • Connect
Towards a sustainable bioeconomy

Research • Educate • Connect
Towards a sustainable bioeconomy

Operations Management | RWTH Aachen

 

Prof. Dr. Grit Walther

Dr. Tristan Becker

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Prof. Dr. Walther

Research topics and profile (related to bioeconomy)

The research at the Chair of Operations Management focuses on application-oriented techno-economic models for design and assessment of production and logistics systems and supply chains. Thereby, sustainability aspects (economic, ecological as well as social criteria) receive special attention. Bioeconomy research topics are for instance the technology and capacity planning of biofuel production networks regarding global and regional biomass availability, the integrated assessment of the potential contribution of biobased fuels on total CO2 reduction targets of the transportation sector, or the analysis of interdependencies between politics, manufacturers and customers in complex socio-economic and socio-technical systems. The applied methods for modelling, evaluation and management of material and energy flows link detailed engineering process models with more aggregated quantitative business administration and Operations Research planning models.

Research projects are carried out in interdisciplinary cooperation with research institutes from engineering, social and natural sciences, industrial partners as well as policy makers. In the bioeconomy research field, the chair exerts close international cooperation with Wageningen Agricultural University as well as with the University of British Columbia.

Research Topics:

  • Sustainability of Process Chains/Supply Chains
  • Production and Logistics Management
  • Green Logistics, Closed Loop Supply Chain Management
  • Legal Impact Assessment
  • Sustainability Management
  • Material Flow Models and Life Cycle Assessment
Dr. Tristan Becker

Contributions to BioSC

The Chair of Operations Management contributes to the research area „Economy and social implications“ by development and application of quantitative planning models for the design and sustainable assessment of biobased process and supply chains with regard on logistics and production planning tasks. Thereby, special emphasis is put on sustainability aspects. The chair also contributes to the cross sectional area „Systems Engineering“ by linking detailed engineering process models with more aggregated models for planning and assessment of process and supply chains. Research methods comprise mathematical optimization, continuous and discrete-event simulation and multicriteria decision making as well as methods for material flow modeling and life cycle assessment.