Energy and Process Systems Engineering Group, ETH Zurich

What Energy and Process Systems Engineering Group, ETH Zurich does

The Energy and Process Systems Engineering (EPSE) Group is an academic research unit within the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT) and the Institute of Energy and Process Engineering (IEPE) at ETH Zurich, established in 2020 and led by Full Professor André Bardow. Headquartered at Tannenstrasse 3, Zurich, the group conducts fundamental and applied research in energy systems optimization, life cycle assessment, carbon capture, high-temperature heat pumps, thermodynamic property modeling, and computer-aided molecular design. Its research outputs include proprietary methodologies such as ORACLE (a rigorous methodology for complete near-optimal solution space exploration in energy system modeling), LH-TVSA (a direct air capture technology leveraging phase change of water to recycle 50% of CO2 recovery heat), Text2flowsheet (an LLM-powered pipeline converting natural-language process descriptions into structured flowsheets, benchmarked against 50 human experts), the ZEN-garden energy system model, and calcium-looping DACCS (CaL DACCS) with projected 85–96% net CO2 removal efficiency. EPSE also develops high-temperature heat pump technology using customized refrigerant mixtures capable of delivering clean process heat up to 200°C, advanced through BRIDGE Discovery (SNSF/Innosuisse) funding in collaboration with OST.

EPSE does not sell products or services; its business model is grant-funded academic research supplemented by funded industry collaborations. Revenue-equivalents flow from Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) grants, European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants, Innosuisse, Horizon Europe projects, and joint programs with industrial partners. The most notable recent award is a 2026 ERC Advanced Grant to Prof. Bardow valued at approximately €2.5 million. Industry collaborations — such as the Lindt & Sprüngli pilot plant at Kilchberg for industrial heat pump deployment, BASF knowledge exchange, and the Global Impact Coalition waste-to-chemical feedstocks program — are structured as funded research partnerships rather than commercial contracts. EPSE's primary audience is the academic research community, served via open-access publications in leading journals (Nature, Joule, Chemical Engineering Journal, Computers & Chemical Engineering, Green Chemistry), conference participation (IFORS, ICCDR, ESCAPE, ACHEMA), and policy-facing outputs such as the 2026 ETH-PSI white paper on nuclear power in Switzerland.

The group operates as a publicly funded, non-commercial entity embedded in a public Swiss federal university, with no equity ownership, subsidiaries, or external investors. Its growth is measured in research output (50+ publications per year), talent pipeline (19 active PhD students, 8 postdocs, 4 senior scientists/group leaders), grant capture, and partnerships rather than commercial revenue or market share.

Name

Energy and Process Systems Engineering Group, ETH Zurich

Legal name

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich

Website

https://epse.ethz.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The EPSE Group is an ETH Zurich academic research unit led by Prof. André Bardow that develops energy systems optimization, carbon capture, high-temperature heat pump, and AI-driven process modeling methodologies, serving the global research community, industry collaborators, and policymakers via open-access publications and funded partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Energy and Process Systems Engineering Research

NAICS

Steam and Air-Conditioning Supply (221330), Measuring, Dispensing, and Other Pumping Equipment Manufacturing (333914)

SIC

Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services (4900)

akta.pro primary industry

Waste Heat Recovery & Heat Integration (HRSG/ORC, Pinch Analysis, Heat Exchangers) (EUABAJAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Climate Governance, Operating Model & Internal Carbon Pricing Design (EUABAKAF)

Keywords

• Energy systems optimization
• Carbon capture research
• Life cycle assessment
• Process engineering research
• Heat pump technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Zurich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Research Grants: Primary funding from government and foundation grants including Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants, Innosuisse, and Horizon Europe projects. Grants support fundamental research in energy systems, carbon capture, and sustainable process engineering.
2. Industry Collaboration Funding: Collaborative research projects with industry partners such as Lindt & Sprüngli for pilot plant development. Funded through joint programs like BRIDGE Discovery with SNSF and Innosuisse.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

EPSE conducts fundamental and applied research in energy and process systems engineering, developing methodologies and technologies for industrial decarbonization including carbon capture (direct air capture via LH-TVSA and CaL DACCS), high-temperature heat pumps for clean process heat, energy systems optimization (ORACLE), life cycle assessment, and LLM-based process flowsheet digitization (Text2flowsheet). The group delivers research outputs through peer-reviewed open-access publications and funded industry collaborations with partners such as Lindt & Sprüngli, BASF, and government policy bodies.

Product overview

The Energy and Process Systems Engineering (EPSE) group at ETH Zurich is an academic research group that does not offer commercial products. Its research outputs include methodologies and technologies such as ORACLE (for energy system optimization), LH-TVSA (direct air capture technology), Text2flowsheet (LLM-powered process flowsheet generation), high-temperature heat pump technology, and CaL DACCS (carbon capture technology). These are research methodologies and technologies developed through academic work rather than commercial products or services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ORACLE (Optimization with Rigorous Assessment of Complete Near-Optimal Space Exploration) Methodological advancement in energy system modeling that guarantees complete exploration of the near-optimal solution space without relying on restrictive heuristics, introducing a novel convergence metric to quantify how much of the near-optimal space has been captured. Targeted at energy system modelers and policy analysts.
• LH-TVSA (Latent Heat-Temperature Vacuum Swing Adsorption) Direct air capture technology that leverages the phase change of water to heat and cool the sorbent, enabling short and efficient cycles with 50% heat recycling for CO2 recovery. Targeted at carbon capture researchers and industrial decarbonization stakeholders.
• Text2flowsheet (LLM-powered Flowsheet Digitization Pipeline) LLM-powered digitization pipeline that converts unstructured natural language process descriptions into structured process flowsheets, benchmarked against 50 chemical engineering experts. Targeted at chemical engineering researchers and process modelers.
• High-Temperature Heat Pump Technology with Flexible Refrigerant Mixtures High-temperature heat pump technology using flexible refrigerant mixtures enabling generation of clean process heat up to 200°C for industrial applications. Developed in collaboration with OST and supported by the SNSF/Innosuisse BRIDGE Discovery program. Targeted at industrial heat consumers in food, chemical, and manufacturing sectors.
• CaL DACCS (Solid Calcium-Looping Direct Air CO2 Capture and Storage) Solid calcium-looping direct air CO2 capture and storage technology achieving 85-96% net CO2 removal efficiency with synergies for integration with cement manufacturing. Targeted at carbon capture researchers, cement manufacturers, and industrial decarbonization stakeholders.

Quantifiable outcome

• 85-96% net CO2 removal efficiency achievable with solid calcium-looping DACCS by 2050
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026EPSE co-authored a white paper with PSI investigating the economic viability of new nuclear power plants in Switzerland's energy system. The study used four techno-economic models to evaluate conditions for nuclear energy competitiveness by 2050.
• Lindt & SprünglicoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Global chocolate manufacturer planning a pilot plant at Kilchberg utilizing EPSE's innovative heat pump technology. The installation will showcase high-temperature heat pump applications for reducing carbon emissions in industrial food production.
• Global Impact Coalition (GIC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025EPSE teamed up with GIC partners to research transformation of waste to chemical feedstocks. Part of broader R&D collaboration investigating circular economy solutions for chemical industry.
• BASFminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2024Knowledge exchange and discussion on challenges in the chemical industry. BASF team visited EPSE to discuss industry challenges and exchange ideas on sustainability solutions.
• Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2024Collaborative research with OST on high-temperature heat pump technology, specifically with Prof. Bertsch's team. Joint development of methods for handling high-glide refrigerant mixtures in practice.
• CMCC Foundation / Politecnico di MilanominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration through ICCDR 2026 conference organization. CMCC Foundation organized the 4th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Removal in Milan with EPSE researchers presenting.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• SINTEF Energy Research: Norway's largest contract research organization with deep work on CCS, hydrogen, and energy systems optimization. Comparable in applied energy research with strong industry coupling.
• TU Delft – Process & Energy Department: Leading European process engineering department covering energy systems, carbon capture, and process intensification. Directly comparable in academic research on industrial decarbonization and process systems engineering.
• DTU Energy (Technical University of Denmark): University department focused on energy conversion, storage, and process engineering, including heat pumps, carbon capture, and electrofuels. Highly comparable scope to EPSE in thermochemical/electrochemical process research.
• Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI): Swiss federal research institute conducting energy systems, nuclear, and decarbonization research. EPSE and PSI are direct peers in the Swiss energy transition ecosystem and are already co-authors of a white paper on nuclear power.
• Imperial College London – Energy Futures Lab: Cross-faculty energy research hub focused on net-zero pathways, carbon capture, and energy systems modeling. Comparable in integrating energy systems analysis with industrial decarbonization technologies.
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – Energy Research: German research university with major programs in energy technology, carbon capture, and process engineering. Comparable scale and scope of academic energy research, especially in heat pumps and CO2 utilization.
• Carnegie Mellon University – Scott Institute for Energy Innovation: US university institute integrating energy technology, policy, and economics. Comparable in combining techno-economic analysis with industrial decarbonization research and pilot-scale deployment.

Broad incumbents

• MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI): MIT's flagship energy research consortium spanning low-carbon technologies, energy systems, and policy. Broadly comparable in scope but with substantially larger scale, funding base, and industry consortium.
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL): US national lab covering renewable power, energy efficiency, and decarbonization at much larger scale. Overlaps with EPSE on energy systems modeling, LCA, and carbon capture but with a significantly broader portfolio.

Emerging players

• Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) / former IASS Potsdam: German research institute focused on sustainability transformations, including energy transition governance and decarbonization. Overlaps with EPSE's techno-economic and policy analysis work but with stronger social-science orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/epse_eth
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCr9BD4l37DjbV4cLKzPDOxA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/epse-ethz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Energy and Process Systems Engineering Group, ETH Zurich