Torsten Berning

Torsten Berning serves as Associate Professor at AAU Energy within The Faculty of Engineering and Science at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research focuses on thermal engineering systems, hydrogen production technologies, and electro-fuels development, with significant contributions to fuel cell and electrolyzer innovation.

His primary research domains include fuel cell engineering, electrolyzer technology, and computational fluid dynamics applied to energy systems. He investigates water management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, heat and mass transfer in electrolysis cells, and efficiency optimization of hydrogen production systems. His methodology combines experimental validation with advanced CFD modeling to address durability and performance challenges in electrochemical energy conversion.

Recent publications (2024-2025) demonstrate concentrated research on alkaline electrolysis systems and thermal management solutions. Key advancements include reducing gas crossover in electrolyzers, optimizing indirect evaporative coolers, and designing proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. His work leverages computational modeling to enhance efficiency and scalability of hydrogen production technologies while addressing multiphase flow and heat transfer complexities.

Professor Berning actively supervises PhD candidates:

• H. D. Miller on Degradation Modeling and Lifetime Prediction of Electrolyzers
• D. L. Martinho on Computational Fluid Dynamics of Alkaline Electrolysis Cells
• W. Liu on Water Transport in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

His research is funded by multiple grants including EUDP's 'Boosting Economic Electrolyzer Stack Technology 2' (2022-2025) and the Danish Energy Agency's 'Degradation Modeling and Lifetime Prediction of Electrolyzers' project (2024-2027).

He collaborates within AAU Energy's research ecosystem on hydrogen production systems and thermal management technologies, contributing to projects like the Adiabatic Cooling Systems for Decentralised Ventilation and advancing electrolyzer stack technology through industry partnerships.