Abstract: In a thermochemical method, a syngas comprising oxygen is combusted in a furnace, thereby producing a hot exhaust gas. The exhaust gas is subsequently discharged into the surroundings while the inner energy of the exhaust gas is at least partly used to carry out a reformation reaction. For this purpose, steam together with a hydrocarbon-containing fuel and an oxygen-containing gas are supplied to a reformer and converted into syngas in an endothermic reaction using inner energy of the exhaust gas. The heat of the exhaust gas is used in particular to evaporate water and supply same to the reformer in a superheated state. The syngas is then supplied to the furnace as fuel. The invention prevents undesired constituents of the furnace atmosphere, in particular sulfur compounds, from being supplied to the reformer.

Abstract: A process is presented for determining the effectiveness of sterilizing processes for medical devices with the following steps: providing a data structure, wherein the data structure represents a grid formed of a plurality of three-dimensional cells; recreating the medical device arranged in the sterilizer in the data structure in such a way that a first multiplicity of cells of the grid represent a body of the medical device and that a second multiplicity of cells represent an interior of the sterilizer which is not occupied by the body of the medical device; recreating an initial state in the data structure in such a way that each cell of the second multiplicity of cells is assigned data relating to the temperature prevailing at the location of the cell, the quantity of a first medium located in the area of the cell, and the quantity of a second medium located in the area of the cell; recreating, step by step, changes in the temperature, in the quantity of the first medium and in the quantity of the second

Abstract: A process is presented for determining the effectiveness of sterilization processes for medical devices, with the steps of: providing a data structure, wherein the data structure represents a grid formed of a plurality of three-dimensional cells, recreating the medical device arranged in the sterilizer in the data structure in such a way that a first plurality of cells of the grid represent a body of the medical device and that a second plurality of cells represent an interior of the sterilizer which is not occupied by the body of the medical device, recreating an initial state in the data structure in such a way that each cell of the second plurality of cells is assigned data with respect to the temperature prevailing at the location of the cell, the quantity of a first medium located in the area of the cell and the quantity of a second medium located in the area of the cell, recreating, step by step, changes in the temperature, the quantity of the first medium and the quantity of the second medium occurring