the master’s thesis - campus-elgouna.tu-berlin.de · proper design of air conditioning systems...

2015

Master’s Graduates

THE MASTER’S THESIS

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Thesis Abstracts – MASTER’S CLASS of 2015 PAGE

Technische Universität Berlin Campus El Gouna 3

Master of Energy Engineering, Abstracts 4 - 17

1. Mohamed Aboshady

2. Marwan Assar

3. Venkatesh Bhat

4. Sarah Hamdy

5. Jing-Chien Hsu

6. Tejas M. Joshi

7. Anjan Kumar

8. Koon Yee Felix Lee

9. Ahmed Mahran

10. Mohamed Nabil

11. Friday Ogbodo

12. Omar Saad

13. Tarek Sleem

Master of Urban Development, Abstracts 18 - 23

14. Mohamed Abdelwahab

15. Mohamed Ibrahim

16. Ahmed Khalil

17. Kamal Marei

18. Natacha Quintero

Master of Water Engineering, Abstracts 24 - 27

19. Michael Eshak Zaki

20. Samer Mekhael

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Technische Universität Berlin Campus El Gouna

Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Germany, established a satellite Campus in El Gouna to

act as an academic hub and research center at the Red Sea in Egypt. TUB Campus El Gouna

currently conducts three advanced Master’s degree programs in:

Energy Engineering

Urban Development

Water Engineering.

All two-year programs comprise 120 Credit Points (ECTS) and are taught in English. Students

graduate with a full Master’s degree by Technische Universität Berlin. Next to their study time

in El Gouna, they spend up to one year at TUB’s mother campus in Berlin.

TUB Campus El Gouna was founded as a nonprofit Public-Private-Partnership between TU

Berlin, Orascom Development Holding (ODH), and Sawiris Foundation for Social Development

(SFSD). Teaching and research are conducted by staff of Technische Universität Berlin and

international experts under German regulations for higher education.

The exceptional location of TUB Campus El Gouna provides a state-of-the-art environment for

studying and research, while serving as a bridge for scientific and intercultural exchange

between Europe, the MENA region, and the other parts of the world.

For more information, please visit:

www.campus-elgouna.tu-berlin.de

and follow us on facebook.com/CampusElGouna or twitter.com/CampusElGouna

http://www.facebook.com/CampusElGouna

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Master of Energy Engineering

Energy has been a key factor in the development of countries, enabling their economic growth

and shaping their environments to the needs of human society. Due to the increasing

requirements for energy and its carbon based generation, however, a range of serious

problems have evolved, such as the exhausting of resources, air pollution and global warming.

Air pollution was successfully tackled during the second half of the 20th century and is no

longer a serious problem. The problems around resources and CO2 emissions, however,

remain. Using renewable energies on a large scale could eliminate these problems. Renewable

energy technologies include biofuels, solar heating and cooling, solar power, as well as water

and wind power. Research and development at universities and industries faces the challenge

of how to find innovative concepts for a safe, sustainable, and economic energy supply in the

future.

Main focal points of Energy Engineering are:

Energy engineering, with particular emphasis on applied and advanced thermodynamic

and economic aspects;

Energy conversion techniques and integration of renewable energies, with practical

experiments involving conventional conversion systems.

Refrigeration and air condoning under special climatic conditions.

Energy for buildings, especially primary energy consumption for heating and cooling

equipment, along with calculation methods for planning of sophisticated homes and

offices.

Electrical energy engineering, with special consideration of photovoltaic and different kind

of energy storage systems.

Energy economics and systems, focusing on complex energy systems and the integration

of renewable energy in markets, ensuring secure supply and commodity markets.

Soft skills, intercultural competence and research methods.

Practical interdisciplinary energy projects and industry internships.

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MOHAMED ABOSHADY

Egypt

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

EXERGO ECONOMIC

OPTIMIZATION OF A CO-

FIRED STEAM POWER

PLANT IN EGYPT

Master’s Thesis Abstract

In the current Egyptian electricity market, with increasing demand for electricity production on short notice, the steam power plants contributes as a higher share of total electricity production. This paper shows the optimization process of 320 MW co-fired steam power plant located in Egypt.

The process includes simulation, exergetic, economic and exergoeconomic analysis of the subject power plant. Optimization take place at the end of economic life of the power plant, where cost rate associated to capital investment and operation & maintenance is equal to zero. As a result, the evaluation of the 1st iteration was made with considerations that only changes the exergetic efficiency.

Multiple iterations were conducted by changing the appropriate parameters to obtain the cost optimal design. The improvements were achieved by changing the steam generator parameters such as increasing the main steam pressure and temperature to supercritical conditions.

After optimizing the power plant design the results of optimization were compared with the current plant design. It was found that the plant efficiency was successfully increased by 2.7 % whereas the cost of electricity was reduced by 6.4 %.

The comparison shows that the thermodynamic inefficiencies and the cost of electricity are making the current design inefficient. Hence it can be concluded that it’s better to replace components with highest thermodynamic inefficiencies after the economic life instead of keeping the same plant design for rest of its life.

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MARWAN ASSAR

Egypt

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

COMPARATIVE

EXERGOECONOMIC

EVALUATION OF TWO

MODERN COMBINED-

CYCLE POWER PLANTS


The purpose of this study is to comparatively evaluate Siemens’s F-class and H-class combined cycle power plants technologies form exergoeconomic point of view. The data and parameters are based on real technical data and operating power plants namely Giza North and Kuraimat. The power output and efficiency of the H-class is higher than that of the F-class. Thus, the H-class requires higher total capital investment than that required by the F-class. However, the H-class is more economically preferable since the calculated net present value is higher and the break-even point happens 1.5 years earlier. Such results are contributed to the higher output capacity of the H-class at a lower LCOE compared to the LCOE of the F-class. Exergetic analysis shows that, unlike the gas turbine and the HRSG of the H-class, the steam turbine operates less efficiently than that of the F-class, thus requires more focus during optimization. The gas turbine block accounts for the majority of the entire cost of components and cost of exergy destruction of the H-class model. An exergoeconomic optimization is successfully conducted to reduce the total cost of the H-class, reaching an energetic efficiency of 61.25%.

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VENKATESH BHAT

India

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

THERMODYNAMIC

IMPROVEMENT OF A

VATTENFALL OPERATED

POWER PLANT IN

BERLIN


The thermal power plant being operated by Vattenfall at Berlin Mitte was built between 1994 and 1996 and has been in operation since 1997. This combined cycle power plant (CCGT) utilizes fuel effectively by generating heat and power (CHP). It comprises of two gas turbine units and a steam turbine unit with three condensers for the purpose of district heating. It has an installed electrical capacity of 444 MWel and a thermal capacity of 670 MWth. The installed capacity fulfils the electricity needs of 600,000 housing units in Berlin.

The thesis deals with updating the outdated Ebsilon Model in accordance with the current process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) of the power plant followed by an optimization process based on exergetic methods. After the plant has been subjected to exergy, economic and exergoeconomic analyses, the process of optimization is carried out.

Various measures of performance are calculated using the results obtained from the exergy analysis which indicate the relevant areas of improvement. The exergy destruction at the component level and the exergy losses at the system level indicate the losses in monetary terms which further highlights the components whose efficiencies may be improved. The components can be optimized by increasing the investment costs to decrease the cost of exergy destruction. On the other hand, for components with high investment costs, the costs may be reduced by allowing a higher exergy destruction based on thermo-economic principles. The aim of the analyses is to increase the efficiency of the components, to decrease the product costs and also to decrease the exergy losses.

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SARAH HAMDY

Germany

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

EVALUATION OF A

CRYOGENICS-BASED

ENERGY STORAGE

APPROACH

Keywords

CRYOGENICS, ENERGY

STORAGE, LIQUID AIR,

EXERGY ANALYSIS


In order to cope with the shift towards high penetration of non-dispatchable strongly intermittent renewable energy generation, grid balancing services are in need of a storage device with modest efficiency and low cost at significant scale. This can be achieved by cryogenics-based energy storage. Cryogenic energy storage (abbreviated CES) is a thermo-electric energy storage that charges surplus electricity while liquefying a gas that is stored at cryogenic temperature and later on pressurized, evaporated and expanded in a gas turbine. Thus CES consist of a common gas liquefaction plant, a low-pressure cryogenic tank and generally a set of mature components already available at industrial scale, allowing great scale up excessing present supply infrastructure. The cold exergy recovery unit is the only fragment that has not been commercially establish yet, thus it is the limiting factor to cryogenic energy storage system efficiency. Target to this thesis is the identification of the most efficient cold exergy recovery cycle. Accordingly, two different cold exergy recovery methods; direct expansion of liquid air and its combination with an indirect Rankine cycle are compared in exergy analysis. The direct expansion of liquid air is furthermore undertaken economic and exergoeconomic analysis.

In simulation, methane is identified as the optimal working fluid to employ in a Rankine cycle regaining cold exergy stored in liquid air. Exergy analysis reveals that waste heat recovery has a significant effect on the system’s efficiency, allowing exergetic efficiencies above 50%. The combination with an indirect Rankine cycle allows 15% higher net power output at ambient temperature. The optimal concept for ambient heat and waste heat recovery is consequently the combination with an indirect Rankine cycle. Colocation with high grade waste heat sources allows exergetic efficiencies above 50% while employing direct expansion. Economic analysis shows that a 10 MW recovery unit, performing direct expansion of liquid air, runs at a cost of 2.63 million £ yearly, taking into account 17.5 Million £ of total capital investment and annual operation and maintenance costs of 860,000 £/a. The final electricity cost is estimated between 0.273 £/kWh and 0.468 £/kWh depending on cost of liquid air feed. As cryogenic energy storage is a very promising solution for grid balancing. Intensive investments to increase the discharging units’ cost-effectiveness is essential for cryogenic energy storage successful market implementation.

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JING-CHIEN HSU

Taiwan

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

COMPARISON OF

DECENTRALIZED AND

CENTRALIZED

PHOTOVOLTAIC-

POWERED AIR

CONDITIONING SYSTEMS

FOR HOTELS IN HOT AND

DRY CLIMATES


Cooling is the large consumer of energy in hotels in hot and dry climates. In regions where the electricity supply is highly dependent on fossil fuel, a significant amount of fossil fuel is consumed by the cooling sector. The cooling load can be reduced and satisfied through many ways, namely the proper design of air conditioning systems and building envelopes.

The aim of this thesis is to present an introduction of PV powered air conditioning system for hotels located in hot and dry climates and to investigate the system performance of centralized and decentralized air conditioning systems. A building model based on the Ocean View Hotel located in El Gouna, Egypt is constructed in the simulation software IDA-ICE to generate a full year cooling load file. Different passive cooling strategies regarding lighting system, window, wall and roof are used as variants and further implemented on the building model to study the performance on cooling load reduction. After the economic and energetic analysis, the combined passive strategy which applied lighting, wall and roof measures, provides a 18 % cooling load reduction is chosen as the optimum solution. The cooling load file of the optimum solution is collaborated with the PV powered air conditioning system and further implemented on the next step simulation. The PV cooling system performance is investigated by the simulation tool Dymola. The PV cooling system contains four main components, PV modules, a battery system, a water chiller and a water storage tank. In addition, the system is categorized into two types: centralized and decentralized systems, and the system performance is compared from four different view points, environmental, operational, economic and energetic analysis. The results have shown that the PV powered centralized air conditioning system has better performance on both economic and energetic point of view and can offer up to 30 % reduction in the electricity consumption of the building model.

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TEJAS M. JOSHI

India

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

MODELLING AND

EVALUATION OF

HELIOSTAT FIELDS AND

RECEIVER DIMENSIONS


Solar tower power plants are rapidly constructed around the world as a remedy for global warming and excessive greenhouse gas emissions. The heliostat or solar field costs almost half of the total cost of the solar tower power plant. By optimizing the heliostat field layout the levelized cost of electricity of the solar tower power plant can be significantly reduced.

A location was selected for the solar tower power plant. The specifications of the power block and the land boundaries for the solar field were decided. A solar field generated for the same location by a renewable energy company was considered as a benchmark field. Any field generated having higher optical efficiency than the benchmark field was one of the goals of this study. A field generator was designed using Python programming language. The heliostat fields were generated by the field generator. These fields have to be evaluated in order to optimize them and hence improve the overall optical efficiency of the heliostat field.

In order to evaluate and optimize the heliostat field layout, a Python tool was created which is flexible and more convenient for the user to handle than the existing tools in the market. The heliostat field strength is evaluated by calculating cosine, shading, blocking, atmospheric attenuation and spillage efficiencies. The spillage efficiency highly depends on the heliostat mirror optical and tracking quality, heliostat size, receiver size and the distance between the heliostat and the tower. Hence the receiver’s dimensions are very important while modelling the heliostat field layout.

A research was conducted on various optimization methods before choosing and implementing an optimization method. A sequential optimization approach is suggested for the optimization of the heliostat field which can help create a better field layout. This can significantly reduce the investment cost of the solar tower power plant and is a step forward in improving the process of modelling of the heliostat field layout.

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ANJAN KUMAR

India

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

EXERGETIC AND

EXERGOECONOMIC

ANALYSIS APPLIED TO

THE CONCEPT OF SOLAR

AMMONIA PRODUCTION


This work focuses on the modeling and thermodynamic evaluation of a novel concept for ammonia production using solar energy. Hydrogen and nitrogen are required for ammonia synthesis. For hydrogen production, PEM Electrolyzers are considered operating on electricity generated by a concentrating solar power plant. Nitrogen is produced via a thermochemical air separation unit (ASU) in a two-step reduction-oxidation reaction using a redox material that is capable of absorbing and releasing oxygen. The thermal energy for ASU is also provided by concentrating solar power technology.

The parameters for the ammonia synthesis loop (ASL) are selected after conducting a sensitivity analysis for ammonia synthesis and ammonia separation. Both ASU and ASL are integrated to recover the waste heat as high-pressure steam, which is used to cover the internal energy consumption and to generate electricity. The resulting power and heat distributions will be discussed. Exergetic and exergoeconomic analyses were applied to evaluate the thermodynamic performance of the plant. The Simulations were undertaken by using the software packages Aspen Plus and Aspen Custom Modeler V.8.8.

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Replacement of green space and poor insulation surface caused by city development, result the Urban Heat Island Effect: The temperature in the urban area is significantly higher than that of its surrounding rural area. Since global climate projections for next decades indicate that the tendencies would be further increased, heat stress is a more frequent phenomenon and the increase of energy consumption by the air conditioning of buildings during summer months in the mid-latitude cities. Green roofs have been proven to be one of the effective green building strategies in terms of aesthetic attractions, thermal insulation for buildings and storm water management.

This thesis will present results of simulation studies, in which a model of green roof construction with integrated air ducts was developed in Modelica to study its cooling and heating potential by pre-conditioning the outside air. The model considers the complex thermal energy balance within the green roof construction inclusive the evapotranspiration effect caused by the green layer. Optimization of green roof dimensional parameters were performed for an energy efficient behavior of the green roof system and stable output temperature conditions.

The simulation results for different configurations of a 65 cm thick green roof construction including air ducts of 10 cm diameter were analyzed to supply a room with a size of 4 m by 6 m by 3 m with pre-conditioned air. The simulation analyses were performed for the reference location Berlin and nine other mid-latitude cities, located between 30o to 600 of latitudes. Throughout the range of the selected cities, the green roof system could harvest cooling energy of 4.3 to 10.7 kWh m-2 year-1 under solar shading during summer months, while 10.4 to 14.9 kWh m-2 year-1 of heating energy without solar shading during winter months.

KOON YEE FELIX LEE

United Kingdom

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

A QUANTITATIVE

ANALYSIS OF THE

COOLING EFFECT

PROVIDED BY GREEN

ROOF SYSTEMS IN MID-

LATITUDE CITIES

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AHMED MAHRAN

Egypt

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

OPTIMIZING THE SELF-

CONSUMPTION OF

SOLAR-POWERED

SMART MICROGRIDS

Keywords

SELF-CONSUMPTION,

PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM,

AGENT-BASED

MODELING, SMART

GRID, PV YIELD

PREDICTION, MULTI-

AGENT SYSTEM,

DEMAND-SIDE

MANAGEMENT


Due to the continuous rise of the retail electricity price and the falling remuneration of PV electricity feed-in tariffs in Europe, especially in Germany, consumers who own PV rooftop installations are encouraged to increase their self-consumption. Furthermore, the intermittent-nature of renewable energy sources (RES) hinders the exclusive reliance on RES when compared with base-load conventional power plants. When used to increase the self-consumption, batteries have several technical and economic drawbacks. Additionally, incorporating information and communication technology (ICT) is a proven technique to optimize the operation of today’s smart grids. Moreover, intelligent agent-based modeling is a vivid and versatile approach to simulate complex distributed-optimization tasks.

This research presents a holistic approach to model a smart neighborhood comprising different users (i.e. residential, commercial and industrial) using Python-based agent development framework (SPADE). Through multi-agent system (MAS), the system’s consensus is to increase the self-consumption as well as PV-based self-generation of all the users as well as of the overall community. Furthermore, PV yield is predicted and updated every six hours by the weather forecast of German Weather Service (DWD) and used as an input to the MAS in order to invoke demand-side management, where different consumers are urged to participate in the energy exchange process.

Results show that single-user as well as community self-consumption, without using electrical storage, can reach beyond 60% with a potential to achieve full grid-independency, only when supported by electrical storage. Additionally, without grid feed-in, community consumption can utilize all the PV electricity generated in the community. On-site trials will take place shortly in Constance, Germany in the framework of the EU-funded smart grid project (CoSSMic) to compare simulation results with measured data.

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MOHAMED NABIL

Egypt

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

ADVANCED EVALUATION

OF LINE-FOCUSING

CONCENTRATING SOLAR

COLLECTORS FOR

DIRECT STEAM

GENERATION

Keywords

SOLAR ENERGY,

CONCENTRATED SOLAR

POWER (CSP), EXERGY,

DIRECT STEAM

GENERATION

(DSG), LINE-FOCUSING,

PARABOLIC TROUGH,

LINEAR FRESNEL


Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants with Direct Steam Generation (DSG) allows the use of water and steam directly as a Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF). It simplifies the overall cycle because thermal oil-water heat exchanger is unnecessary. Not only it prevents the need of a potentially toxic and pollutant HTFs but also it has a high potential for investment cost reduction compared to conventional CSP plants. The steam produced can be either used directly to satisfy a heat demand or integrated to a Rankine thermodynamic cycle, wherein a steam turbine coupled to a generator converts thermal energy into electricity. However this technology seems promising, and many conceptual designs have been proposed, developing a cost effective design is a challenge.

This research topic investigates and compares two small-scale CSP plants with a size of 5 MWe based on Linear Fresnel (LF) and Parabolic Trough (PT) technologies with DSG. A solar field with recirculation mode was chosen for this study. Based on the reference plant which is TSE-1 located in Kanchanburi, Thailand, both configurations chosen for the analysis have main steam parameters of 330 oC and 30 bar. The Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) type used in the design is EuroTrough 2 whereas Novatec Nova 1 for Linear Fresnel Collector (LFC).

The main research approach is to simulate both plant configurations with

step is to conduct Exergetic analysis to locate and quantify the system inefficiencies then conducting Economic analysis to estimate the Total Capital Investment (TCI), specific investment cost and Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) for each system. Based on the results obtained, a decision matrix was presented for comparison, which can assist investors to choose between the two technologies.

Master’s Thesis in collaboration with Toughtrough GmbH.

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FRIDAY OGBODO

Nigeria

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

Evaluation of Micro/Mini

Co-generation System for

West Africa


The production of electricity in a decentralized scale is becoming increasingly important in the developing countries and regions overall the world, including West Africa. The delivery of grid power to the remote areas, particularly in the hilly, swampy and landlocked terrain which are among the identity of West Africa, is extremely uneconomic. The installation of small capacity power plants using the local primary energy resources can be an attractive alternative. Biomass is one of them.

In this thesis, indirectly or externally fired gas turbine based systems have been considered as a promising technology for the development of small and medium scale cogeneration based on micro gas turbine technologies. Interestingly, the utilization of the waste heat from the turbine in a recuperative process, and the possibility of burning “dirty” fuel by employing a high temperature heat exchanger to avoid passing the combustion gases through the gas turbine.

The energy performance and sizing of (ca. 100 kWel) externally fired micro gas turbine fueled by residual woody biomass has been analyzed at different cycle pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature, and the temperature difference within heat exchanger. In particular, the use of dry woodchips biomass of about 20% moisture content allows efficiency values of between 24.4 - 30.4% to be obtained depending on the turbine inlet temperature. Moreover, there is another possibility that let a flue gas of about 300 – 400oC be available after the recuperator. The hot flue gas could be utilized by integrating it to a local process, e.g., for drying and roasting process in the food industries, and also the system could be coupled with absorption chiller to provide cooling demand. The total evaluation of a micro combined heat and power system consists of energy and exergy analyses.

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OMAR SAAD

Egypt

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

DYNAMIC MODELING OF

WET MICRO GAS

TURBINES


Micro gas turbines are promising technologies for decentralized combined heat and power applications. However, competition and market changes require enhancing the efficiency and decoupling power and heat. Steam injection is one retrofit to achieve such requirements but requires further validation and research. At low heat demands, the cycle utilizes part of the output heat to generate steam that is injected in the turbine to increase its power output, thus achieving a flexible power to heat ratio. A steady state model of the Turbec T100 micro gas turbine already exists. The existing model is capable of simulating part load operation by adopting a performance map for the compressor and assuming rated operation conditions for the other components. The existing model has been developed into a dynamic model that could capture the system’s transient response. The development has been achieved by extending the operation of the components beyond their rated performance. A performance map has been constructed for the turbine instead of an always choked flow assumption. The heat exchangers have been modeled as thermal bodies with variable heat transfer coefficients instead of mere temperature changers with constant effectiveness. The developed model has been validated against experimental data from literature on steady state and dynamic levels. The validation has proved that the model’s behavior is in good agreement with the reference data. However, it is indicated that the applied turbomachinery maps have over penalized their performance. Dynamic analysis of the model in response to steam injection has indicated that there is no limitation on how fast steam could be injected. The small fraction of injected steam to air poses no threat of compressor surge nor combustion chamber blow out. However, fast steam injection would cause significant overshoots in some variables such as power and fuel flow rate. Power load change maneuver has been simulated for both dry and wet modes. It has indicated that both cycles behave similarly due to load changes but at lower requirements of shaft speed and fuel for the wet cycle.

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This thesis’ research aims at developing a decision matrix for

optimizing energy efficiency and life cycle costs for new planned

residential buildings in Egypt. The decision criteria adopted in this

thesis would be of use to developers working in residential sector. It

can be of interest as well for other governmental and non-

governmental entities concerned with sustainability issues. The

research is concerned with analyzing and applying a decision making

process that matches the Egyptian case. It focuses on passive energy

efficiency measures represented in the building envelope

characteristics and performance.

A real existing, pre-validated building model is used. The model under

inspection is located in “El-Gouna” city near Hurghada. The simulation

program used was IDA-ICE. Simulations were done throughout a full

year for every proposed alternative. The climatic data was taken from

energy plus files for Hurghada region. The materials data extracted to

be simulated and assessed in this thesis are either extracted from

construction companies working in “Egypt” or from the “Egyptian”

HBRC.

A reference building is defined within this thesis along with user

profile. Two assembly cases and three main variants were simulated

and further analyzed in this thesis. The common building structure

within El-Gouna area is simulated. Another case is investigating the

compliance to Egyptian residential building energy code EERBC. The

different variants are concerned with insulation thickness, brick

thickness (for walls) and window glazing types. Results’ analysis for

the performance of different simulated cases, focused on yearly

cooling load reduction, peak cooling load and thermal comfort.

The capital costs of all the construction materials used is calculated

based on real market values for material and installation costs. The

electricity price increase set by the Egyptian government is

demonstrated along with its effect on the decision making process.

Payback time is then showed and compared for each variant step.

This thesis proposes objective criteria for the rating of different

adopted passive energy efficiency measures. The objective criteria

proposed here is based on the Egyptian pyramid rating system GPRS.

The rating system is modified to the scope of the thesis. The proposed

rating system is applied to the simulated results by giving score to

each one. Two further economic indicators are assessed -according to

the LCC analysis- and added to the decision making process.

TAREK SLEEM

Egypt

M.Sc. Energy

Engineering

Thesis Title

COMBUSTION OF H2/O2

AND STEAM

GENERATION AS A WAY

TO PROVIDE NETWORK

SERVICES WITH STEAM

PLANTS


The share of renewable energies in electricity production is increasing. Although renewable energy sources help decreasing the global CO2 emissions, their intermittency behaviour fluctuates electricity selling prices, making conventional power plants operation less profitable.

Conventional power plants offers grid services that are used by the Transmission system operators (TSOs) to provide the gird with a reliable steady frequency. Due to the less profitable operation of conventional power plants, providing grid services become a challenging task.

An old concept proposed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), which integrates H2/O2 steam generator with a thermal power plant to provide Primary Control Reserve (PCR) service is investigated under the new market conditions. integrates H2/O2 steam generator is integrated with a super critical power plant at nine different design cases forming a hybrid power plants that are investigated from a thermodynamic, economic and environmental points of view

The nine cases are categorised according to the capacity offered for PCR. Results show that from a thermodynamic point of view, all energetic efficiencies of hybrid-power has decreased. Nevertheless, exergetic efficiency for several cases has increased. Observation shows that best H2/O2 steam generator integrations are found in three locations. One is before the High Pressure Steam Turbine (HPST) stage where it increases the temperature of live steam to the reheat temperature level. Second best integration case is found to be before the Intermediate Pressure Steam Turbine (IPST) to reheat the steam by using H2/O2 steam generator. The third best case is before the IPST and adding an extra reheat stage before the Low Pressure Steam Turbine (LPST).

The economic performance of hybrid power plants are more flexible than conventional ones in providing PCR service. Their economic performance depends mainly on hydrogen cost that is 74% determinant by the industrial electricity prices. Hydrogen cost determines the maximum amount of energy that can be supplied for PCR service. A sensitivity analysis shows that decreasing electricity prices increases the amount of energy in a quadratic trend, while increasing electricity prices decreases the amount of energy in a linear trend. This opens an opportunity for hybrid power plants to perform more economically than conventional ones as the increase of renewable energy share in the electricity market decreases electricity prices. From environmental point of view, hybrid power plant concept increases the CO2 emissions as the electrolysis plant consumes electricity from the grid.

In conclusion, hybrid power plant concept shows a potential solution for thermal power plants in providing PCR service in a new flexible way rather than the conventional way. The feasibility of the hybrid power plant concept gets better by every decrease in the electricity selling price which is expected in the future due to the increasing trend of renewables share in the electricity market.

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Master of Urban Development

Urban growth is extensively transforming the face of the planet. For the first time in human history, more than half of the world's population now lives in towns and cities. With an average growth rate of 2.1% per annum from 1990-2003, the MENA region has one of the world’s most rapidly expanding populations, increasingly concentrated in urban areas.

Cities in both the MENA region and other parts of the world are engines of growth, providing a disproportionate share of income opportunities and access to services. At the same time, cities are places of growing social and economic inequality, with increasing numbers of people living in poverty and deteriorating living conditions. Furthermore, urbanization also poses a significant challenge in the 21st century, with an estimated 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions linked to urban areas. The enormous contribution of urban areas to global greenhouse gas emissions is set to increase even more.

The Master's program Urban Development focuses on specific aspects of sustainable urban regeneration, participatory planning approaches, and holistic thinking. It lays a strong emphasis on the practical application of the subjects of study while fostering a process-oriented and interdisciplinary approach among students. The program's content includes current trends and methods, as well as extensive semester projects, in which interdisciplinary teams deal with typical problems in a real-world environment.

19

MOHAMED

ABDELWAHAB

Egypt

M.Sc. Urban

Development

Thesis Title

AN APPROACH TO

RESOLVING THE

CONFLICT BETWEEN KEY

ACTORS IN SWM, CASE

OF HURGHADA-EGYPT


Solid Waste Management (SWM) is one of the most challenging aspects in Egyptian cities. Though Hurghada, Capital of Red Sea Governorate in Egypt, has a relatively high collection ratio, roughly 65%, compared to other Egyptian cities (Cairo, Alexandria …etc.). Still more than third of City areas suffers continuous existence of garbage in its streets. While recycling ratio in Hurghada still as low as 22% of total solid wastes.

This research focus on Hurghada, 260.000 inhabitants, as a case study that is similar to other Egyptian cities which, nevertheless, has its own local characteristics, to analyze the situation in the City and offer relative scenarios to improve it. Both analysis and solutions are consequence of more than 35 interviews that covers all main actors in Hurgada along with few national and international experts. They, both, meant to initiate discussions on public level as well as in specialized circles to lay basis for any detailed solution in the future. Not to be considered as rigid frameworks to be imposed, in case of scenarios, on any of the actors, but to be used to reach a suitable and just consent for all or at least most of them.

First, the analysis deals with reasons behind the current conflict between different actors in solid waste sector in the city. Revealing flaws and capacities for each of the main actors (relative Governmental authorities, Private Company HAYAH and Private informal practices). Clarifying how interests’ conflict and lack of proper capacities could lead to inefficient daily practices that burden everyone and waste opportunities.

Then, in order to reach 100% collection and 75% recycling, scenarios are drawn based on stakeholders’ views and capabilities with minor interference from the researcher, only when needed to complete the picture. These scenarios mainly focus on the necessity of merging both formal and informal sectors under a clear and detailed environmental regulations that everyone could agree upon. Hence, creating a specialized department that is responsible for waste in the city/governorate and developing required human capacity from public realm to match such new entity is necessary too. Whilst the conflict between private entities could be solved by binding them towards one goal, that could be environmental and social, and uniting them geographically not administratively or financially. Then categorizing the market according to type of processed materials (organic and inorganic) and crafting special driving economic instruments for each could help to achieve collection and recycling goals. Also creating an organization, or syndicate, for workers in the sector is highly required to assure a minimum quality of operational health safety for scavengers and street sweepers as well as to assure continuous and sustainable way of improving the sector through establishing a formal channel for inventions and securing services for them and their families.

Finally the situation in Hurghada is not a result of technical deficiencies, though there is too much to do in this regard, but, instead it is a result of an institutional conflict which lead to the existed inefficient practices and delayed any possible progress on either technical or social levels.

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MOHAMED IBRAHIM

Egypt

M.Sc. Urban

Development

Thesis Title

WHY IS THE MAJORITY

OF EGYPTIANS NOT

MOVING TO THE NEW

CITIES? EMPIRICAL

WORK ON

RESIDENDTIAL

LOCATION CHOICE IN

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT

Keywords

RESIDENTIAL LOCATION

CHOICE, ROLE OF

PUBLIC

TRANSPORTATIONS AND

TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IN

HOUSING ALLOCATION,

NEW CITIES IN EGYPT,

NEIGHBORHOODS OF

ALEXANDRIA, NEW

BORG EL-ARAB CITY,

RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY


Unlike other developing countries, the nature of Egypt's economy has pushed the decent houses far beyond the access of middle, and low-income class. The housing price relative to income in Egypt is considered to be higher than many European countries, and double compared to the Gulf Arab countries. Nevertheless, it is estimated to be four times more expensive than owning one in the USA. Besides building luxurious new cities, giving no choice to people except living informally - expand and built their own houses in their own ways. While the rate of vacancy exceeds 50 percent in almost all new cities in Egypt.

Choosing where to live, in some cases, is a self-selection. While on most cases, it depends on different factors. Indeed, housing prices and market conditions can be one of the factors that affect the decision of the people to move, or not to move to a certain location. Yet, there are still no significant impacts that show if affordability is the only factor that influence people's decisions towards selecting their current residential location in Egypt. Thus, it raises the question how do people choose their residential location in Egypt? And why not moving to the new cities?

Four different methods have been conducted to approach the stated issue. It includes statistical analysis-linear regression, household survey-sample size 224 followed by correlations, GIS mapping work-8 neighborhoods followed by T-test method, and 6 experts' interviews.

The empirical findings radically show that the expressed three main factors influencing the self-selection of the current residential location in Alexandria, Egypt are; The availability of public transportation, a nice neighborhood, and affordability respectively. What is a nice neighborhood for Egyptians? And why affordability is less important than availability of transportation? The results show that the most vital characteristics of a neighborhood that can match with the Egyptian conditions are those neighborhoods of a higher degree of walkability, transit oriented, and with a higher percentage of mixed uses, and job opportunities. Nevertheless, the statistical analysis explained the hidden role of the social attributes in the self-selection of residential locations in Egypt.

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This thesis’ research aims at developing a decision matrix for optimizing energy efficiency and life cycle costs for new planned residential buildings in Egypt. The decision criteria adopted in this thesis would be of use to developers working in residential sector. It can be of interest as well for other governmental and non-governmental entities concerned with sustainability issues. The research is concerned with analyzing and applying a decision making process that matches the Egyptian case. It focuses on passive energy efficiency measures represented in the building envelope characteristics and performance.

A real existing, pre-validated building model is used. The model under inspection is located in “El-Gouna” city near Hurghada. The simulation program used was IDA-ICE. Simulations were done throughout a full year for every proposed alternative. The climatic data was taken from energy plus files for Hurghada region. The materials data extracted to be simulated and assessed in this thesis are either extracted from construction companies working in “Egypt” or from the “Egyptian” HBRC.

A reference building is defined within this thesis along with user profile. Two assembly cases and three main variants were simulated and further analyzed in this thesis. The common building structure within El-Gouna area is simulated. Another case is investigating the compliance to Egyptian residential building energy code EERBC. The different variants are concerned with insulation thickness, brick thickness (for walls) and window glazing types. Results’ analysis for the performance of different simulated cases, focused on yearly cooling load reduction, peak cooling load and thermal comfort.

The capital costs of all the construction materials used is calculated based on real market values for material and installation costs. The electricity price increase set by the Egyptian government is demonstrated along with its effect on the decision making process. Payback time is then showed and compared for each variant step.

This thesis proposes objective criteria for the rating of different adopted passive energy efficiency measures. The objective criteria proposed here is based on the Egyptian pyramid rating system GPRS. The rating system is modified to the scope of the thesis. The proposed rating system is applied to the simulated results by giving score to each one. Two further economic indicators are assessed -according to the LCC analysis- and added to the decision making process.

The application of the proposed decision making process on the context of El-Gouna area is made. The results showed that the code compliance through perspective method is not the best scenario in terms of both sustainable and financial aspects. The best solution (among the investigated variants) in El-Gouna context is found to be External wall thickness of 12 cm red hollow brick with 8 cm expanded polystyrene insulation. This option is having a payback time of 6 years and a high return on investment.

AHMED KHALIL

Egypt

M.Sc. Urban

Development

Thesis Title

SUSTAINABLE URBAN

MOBILITY PLANNING A

CATALYST FOR BETTER

SAFETY & SECURITY

CONDITIONS IN NEW

CITIES - THE CASE OF

NEW CAIRO CITY


‘New cities’ is a new strategy that the Egyptian government started to adapt in the mid-eighties as a solution to overcome the population increase in the inner city of Cairo. In case of those new cities, most city and traffic planners are oriented to facilitating car traffic and decreasing the population densities. They tend to put the privately owned vehicles as their primary beneficiary; therefore, they aim to provide all means of proper infrastructure and space to be serving these vehicles almost ignoring other means of transportation, hoping that they would not fall in the same problem once more. As a result of this, the pedestrians’ and cyclists’ right of way has been decreasing and taken over by vehicles through time. Whether it is an intended end result or not, new settlements only attract those who are more fortunate, resulting in the very low residential density of these settlements compared to the initially set density targets. This car-oriented planning imposes several setbacks in the social fabric of these new cities due to socio-economic inequality. This socio-economic inequality can be furtherly emphasized by discussing the different social theories including individualism & collectivism, modernization & social stratification, functional and spatial segregation. New Cairo city in Cairo was selected to be a case study subject due to its strategic location with respect to Greater Cairo Region, which provides a very important economic importance for the city. In addition to the city being one of the largest new city being established regarding its area and population absorption. By studying the case of New Cairo, several challenges start to surface imposing several difficulties in terms of mobility planning and land use planning.

The research criticizes the status quo of New Cairo city in terms of mobility planning, and use planning and design standards. It also studies the planning framework of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) framework which tends to provide a better quality of life for individuals and potential for further economic growth from small-scaled businesses to large scaled ones in a long-term vision. It studies the applicability of SUMP framework in New Cairo city case and to what extent it will be of benefit for solving the current challenges of the city.

22


This thesis’ research aims at developing a decision matrix for optimizing energy efficiency and life cycle costs for new planned residential buildings in Egypt. The decision criteria adopted in this thesis would be of use to developers working in residential sector. It can be of interest as well for other governmental and non-governmental entities concerned with sustainability issues. The research is concerned with analyzing and applying a decision making process that matches the Egyptian case. It focuses on passive energy efficiency measures represented in the building envelope characteristics and performance.

A real existing, pre-validated building model is used. The model under inspection is located in “El-Gouna” city near Hurghada. The simulation program used was IDA-ICE. Simulations were done throughout a full year for every proposed alternative. The climatic data was taken from energy plus files for Hurghada region. The materials data extracted to be simulated and assessed in this thesis are either extracted from construction companies working in “Egypt” or from the “Egyptian” HBRC.

A reference building is defined within this thesis along with user profile. Two assembly cases and three main variants were simulated and further analyzed in this thesis. The common building structure within El-Gouna area is simulated. Another case is investigating the compliance to Egyptian residential building energy code EERBC. The different variants are concerned with insulation thickness, brick thickness (for walls) and window glazing types. Results’ analysis for the performance of different simulated cases, focused on yearly cooling load reduction, peak cooling load and thermal comfort.

The capital costs of all the construction materials used is calculated based on real market values for material and installation costs. The electricity price increase set by the Egyptian government is demonstrated along with its effect on the decision making process. Payback time is then showed and compared for each variant step.

This thesis proposes objective criteria for the rating of different adopted passive energy efficiency measures. The objective criteria proposed here is based on the Egyptian pyramid rating system GPRS. The rating system is modified to the scope of the thesis. The proposed rating system is applied to the simulated results by giving score to each one. Two further economic indicators are assessed -according to the LCC analysis- and added to the decision making process.

The application of the proposed decision making process on the context of El-Gouna area is made. The results showed that the code compliance through perspective method is not the best scenario in terms of both sustainable and financial aspects. The best solution (among the investigated variants) in El-Gouna context is found to be External wall thickness of 12 cm red hollow brick with 8 cm expanded polystyrene insulation. This option is having a payback time of 6 years and a high return on investment.

KAMAL MAREI

Egypt

M.Sc. Urban

Development

Thesis Title

CULTURAL POLICY AND

CREATIVE CITIES -

TOWARDS A

CULTURALLY RECEPTIVE

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

APPROACH FOR

EGYPTIAN CITIES

Thesis Title

CULTURAL POLICY,

CULTURE CLUSTER,

CULTURAL HUB,

CREATIVE INDUSTRY,

FESTIVALS,

ENTREPRENEURSHIP,

SOCIETY,

HOUSING STRATEGIES,

CO-WORKING SPACE,

PUBLIC SPACE,

TOLERANCE,

URBAN CULTURE,

THIRD SECTOR,

ORGANIZATIONS,

PARTICIPATORY

PLANNING


This thesis aims to review the uses of cultural policy and planning as tools of urban re-generation. It includes a brief assessment of the evolution of European and American cultural policies in recent decades, studying the origins and development of cultural pro-grams and exploring the experience of cities considered to have succeeded in re-imaging and regenerating themselves through cultural activity and special events. The main part presents an analysis of three case studies (Berlin, Barcelona and Los Angeles). The thesis ends with reflections on the notion of cultural planning and its potential as an in-tegrated tool in urban development strategies, and offers recommendations for further development of creative cities in Egypt.

23

NATACHA QUINTERO

Venezuela

M.Sc. Urban

Development

Thesis Title

Slum Ecologies -

Rethinking The Urban

Informal Landscapes of

Caracas, Venezuela


As studies increasingly suggest that the future of the world’s population will live in cities, the focus on the relations between cities’ resources and human activities has become a powerful trend in urban research. Cities are expanding and transforming; they are also in constant processes of utilisation, processing, circulation, and creation of resources, consequently, the demand of these is alarmingly rising as cities grow. Urban ecology studies have advocated for approaches to ease and improve those relations between citizens and their means to inhabit urban contexts, and thus, to cope with the complex effects and the large ecological footprint cities bear as they develop. In addition, cities are facing the notorious phenomenon of informality, which in most cases excludes a significant share of the urban population from development processes.

Latin America, representing almost a quarter of the world’s urban population, has given noteworthy examples of the importance of slum upgrade in city development. Departing from representative cases in the region - including Brazil, Colombia and Chile - Venezuela has been chosen as a case study for its course of radical socio-political changes which have been taking place for over a decade, consistently altering and affecting urbanisation processes. Recent responses to the challenges of urban poverty and resource scarcity in Caracas have resulted in efforts heavily invested in trying to assist the less benefited by encouraging physical and social transformations in their immediate context. Some of these initiatives have primarily and progressively provided ‘to-do’ tools in an effort to empower slum-dwellers. This research paper suggests that moving forward implies a re-interpretation of the urban landscape of slums and the recognition of potentials linked to their urban ecology, thus providing the ‘to-know’ tools for both, slum dwellers and professionals, in approaches to improving the quality of life for populations in slums.

24

Master of Water Engineering

In the last decades, water resources have been under increased pressure, caused by the gap between the need for water and its availability in terms of both its quality and quantity. This is a particular problem in arid and semiarid regions. Beyond traditional sectors where water is in high demand, this phenomenon is being intensified by rapidly growing populations, increased agricultural irrigation for food production, intensified urbanization and climate change. To overcome this dilemma, a water resources management that follows an integrated and interdisciplinary approach is widely proposed, including sustainable capacity building.

Main focal points of Water Engineering are:

Conventional and advanced treatment of water and wastewater, wastewater

discharge systems, decentralized sanitation solutions, water tanks and networks,

sludge treatment, sludge disposal and water reuse;

Engineering hydrology, basic, applied and field hydrogeology, modeling of water

related and environmental systems for sustainable exploration of water resources,

especially groundwater;

Biological and chemical aspects of water quality management, including water

resource protection;

Modeling of hydro-systems and hydraulic engineering as well as water and

wastewater transport;

Fundamentals of international water legislation, economics and socioeconomic

aspects of water;

Two project management blocks on “Integrated Water Resources Management”

(IWRM);

Soft skills, intercultural competence and scientific work;

Practical experience, including work in the laboratory and at test stands, field trips,

demo site excursions and an industry internship.

25

MICHEAL ESHAK ZAKI

Egypt

M.SC. Water Engineering

Thesis Title

INVESTIGATION OF

HYBRID BIOFILM

SYSTEMS - COMPARISON

STUDY AT THE WWTP EL

GOUNA


The usage of treated wastewater has become increasingly important in water resources management, especially for irrigation purposes in arid or semi-arid regions. In several cases, water reuse is the only available option. Considering this, together with the water quality requirements for reuse which are continuously becoming stricter, the need for efficient and cost effective wastewater treatment techniques is still very active.

The concept of hybrid biological reactors (HBRs) was introduced since several decades. At the late 1980’s, the Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBR) were developed and slightly later, the Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) process was introduced as an alternative to the “classical” MBBR. The principle of fixed bed techniques is older (e.g. trickling filters), but during the last years several different versions were developed, based mainly on different carrier materials. All those techniques are based on the same principle: the growth of a thin biofilm layer on an appropriate media, which results in the increase of treatment efficiency and capacity without increasing the size of the reactor. Their application is nowadays widespread and the relevant research regarding their further improvement is still ongoing. In this work, a performance comparison study has been conducted between a conventional extended aeration reactor system, a Moving bed biofilm reactor system” MBBR” and a recently developed fixed bed biofilm activated sludge system called “Cleartec®”. The study was conducted in a large scale, i.e. all systems were installed and operated at three separated aeration tanks with typical aeration system design conditions and same wastewater influent characteristics at El Gouna’s central wastewater treatment plant.

Necessary adjustments have been initially made in order to ensure same operational conditions in the three aeration tanks, e.g. new identical aeration system was installed at all three reactors. The results showed an increase in the treatment capacity up to 200% compared to the original treatment capacity for both conventional and Cleartec® system. The Cleartec® system showed higher removal efficiency of organic load compared to both, the conventional and MBBR systems, and a more stable nitrification performance compared to conventional system. Finally, Cleartec® system resulted in a better settlement behavior at the clarifier tank compared to the other systems.

26

SAMER MEKHAEL

Egypt

M.Sc. Water Engineering

Thesis Title

GREYWATER-RECYCLING

IN A LAUNDRY -

PRACTICAL

INVESTIGATION OF A

MBR-SYSTEM

Keywords

GREY WATER

TREATMENT;

ULTRAFILTRATION;

SHOCK LOAD; MBR

SYSTEM; BIOLOGICAL

TREATMENT.


Water consumption is growing rapidly with increasing population and the impacts of climate change especially in the Mediterranean basin. Innovative technologies and progressive systems are urgently needed to support this point. On top of innovative water resources solutions is separation of grey water and reuse it again, this concerns to everyone involved to water management as a sustainable approach.

This study took place in Elgouna, Hurghada, Egypt on a grey water treatment system with three cubic meters capacity per day, the system installed and used to investigate treatment of Elgouna main laundry waste water as a research study. Elgouna laundry is located on the red sea in a separated part of Hurhgada, at the Northing and Easting of 3029492.04 m N and 565376.17 m E respectively.

The system consists of six consecutive tanks for different treatment steps leading to a product clean water, settlement circular tank of 500 liters volume followed by two connected aeration tanks, water pumped up from aeration tank to MBR with ultrafiltration membrane, finally two tanks to receive the clean water as a product from membrane modules. This plant is dealing only with three cubic meters of the laundry waste water while the laundry output is about 100 cubic meters per day.

The results of this study showed that, the treatment efficiency of the MBR system on Elgouna laundry waste water based on BOD5 removal was ranged between 93.0% and 96.0%, COD removal efficiency of 96.5 %, and based on TSS removal efficiency was ranged between 84.0% and 95.0 % and improved to reach 100%. Proposed system results indicated that laundry waste water can be treated and reused again in the process of washing.

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Technische Universität Berlin Campus El Gouna

Mohamed Ibrahim Kamel St.

P.O.Box 27, El Gouna, Red Sea, Egypt

Zentralinstitut El Gouna

Fraunhoferstr. 33‐36

10587 Berlin, Germany

For more information, please visit:

www.campus‐elgouna.tu‐berlin.de

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