The Laboratory
On the 1st October 1950, Prof. Dr. P. Grassmann was appointed as professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (today Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, D-MAVT) and thereby, the Institute for “kalorische Apparate und Kältetechnik” was founded at ETH Zurich. Approximately two years later, the “Heliumlaboratorium” was associated in which liquid helium was produced for the first time here at ETH Zurich (1952). At the beginning, our Institute was mainly focused on thermal separation processes, caloric apparatuses and cryogenic engineering in teaching and research. Based on the increasing importance of the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry in Switzerland, research and development was soon spread over all fields of process engineering (plant engineering and construction; thermal, chemical and mechanical process engineering; particle technology; bioprocess engineering). This continuous growth in process engineering finally lead to the establishment of two new professorships in the years 1971 and 1973. Furthermore, in 1971 the name of the Institute was adapted to “Institut für Verfahrens- und Kältetechnik“. Moreover, for students focusing on process engineering, the academic title “Dipl. Verfahrens-Ing. ETH” was introduced. But due to the implementation of the Bologna-Reform at ETH Zurich in the year 2001, a new curriculum was announced that finally resulted in the abolishment of “Vordiplom” and “Diplom” and the introduction of Bachelor and Master degree. This study program is also a two-stage degree with 6 semesters till the Bachelor degree followed by 3 additional semesters for the Master degree. Graduated students nowadays receive the academic title “Ms in Process Engineering Science”. In the last few years, our Institute was mainly focused on multiphase systems, particle and aerosol technology as well as research and development of novel reaction and separation processes. The developed innovations are widely used in pharmaceutical, food and chemical industry, bioprocess engineering, environmental and plant engineering.
Thanks to the intense scientific collaborations with national and international partners from industries and universities, our Institute was able to earn an excellent reputation in the field of process engineering. Since the foundation of the Institute of Process Engineering, roughly 900 students graduated in process and mechanical engineering and over 300 dissertations were successfully finished. One of these PhD students was Heinrich Rohrer who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. From 1958 to 1960, he worked on his dissertation at the Institute of Process Engineering (at that time “Institut für kalorische Apparate und Kältetechnik”) under supervision of Prof. Dr. P. Grassmann.
Former and today's Professors at the Institute of Process Engineering:
Prof. Dr. P. Grassmann († 1994) from 1950 until 1975
Prof. A. Buck († 2012) from 1967 until 1986
Prof. Dr. F. Widmer from 1971 until 2000
Prof. Dr. Ch. Trepp († 2012) from 1975 until 1996
Prof. Dr. L. Reh from 1986 until 1998
Prof. Dr. Ph. Rudolf von Rohr from 1992
Prof. Dr. M. Mazzotti from 1997
Prof. Dr. S. Pratsinis from 1998
Prof. Dr. S. Panke from 2001 until 2009
Prof. Dr. D. Norris from 2010