Environmental and Process Engineering (International Profile)
Bachelor of Engineering
Would you like to actively contribute to shaping a sustainable future and take responsibility for our environment? Start with the Environmental and Process Engineering degree!
Key Information
Programme Overview
From the very beginning, you will combine technical knowledge with practical applications – starting with the fundamentals of mathematics, physics, engineering fundamentals and computer science.
From the third semester onward, you can specialize in areas such as renewable energy, recycling, environmental measurement technology, or process engineering. During the practical semester, you will gain valuable insights into everyday business life through exciting projects and actively contribute to their implementation.
Your Benefits at Heilbronn University
- Hands-on Projects: Learn in small groups and work on projects that address real-world challenges in the automotive sector.
- Individual Support: You are our priority – our professors guide you along your path and help you develop your skills.
- Diverse Career Opportunities: With a degree in Environmental and Process Engineering, you will have access to a wide range of career prospects in diverse industrie s, ranging from classical process engineering to modern future prospects in key technologies.
Key Topics
This degree programme combines classical engineering disciplines with the most pressing topics of our time: circular economy, digital process design, clean energy, environmental assessment and air quality. Across five key focus areas, you will develop technical solutions — for a more sustainable industry and a liveable environment.
- CIRCULAR ECONOMY
- DIGITAL ENGINEERING & AI
- URBAN AIR LAB
- FOOTPRINT & LIFECYCLE
- CLEAN ENERGY
Circular Economy: Recycling & Resource Management
Raw materials such as metals, plastics and biomass are finite and valuable. During your studies, you will learn how waste can be transformed back into valuable materials — technically grounded and with genuine impact on sustainable industry.
What You Will Learn
- Identify, analyse and selectively separate materials
- Understand and optimise recycling processes on a technical level
- Recover new resources from waste streams
- Advance and improve circular economy systems
Your contribution
You turn waste into something valuable — for industry, for the environment, and for the society of tomorrow.
Digital Process Design & Artificial Intelligence
Before a plant is built, it is today planned, simulated and optimised digitally. This saves time, money and resources. Artificial intelligence helps evaluate sensor data, improve processes and automatically classify materials — from air quality measurements to battery recycling.
What You Will Learn
- Digitally simulate and optimise technical processes
- Work with software tools such as Aspen and MATLAB
- Develop models for production and environmental systems
- Apply AI purposefully — for data analysis and image recognition
Your contribution
You help shape the industry of tomorrow — smarter, more sustainable, and with AI as a tool for real-world solutions in energy, the environment and recycling.
Impact
Measuring Clean Air in the Urban Air Lab
Clean air is vital for our health, for cities and for the environment. Yet fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants are ever-present. In the Urban Air Lab, you will combine environmental analytics, engineering and modern digital methods to develop technical solutions for cleaner urban air.
What You Will Learn
- Understand the formation and dispersion of air pollutants
- Analyse physico-chemical processes in the atmosphere
- Apply modern filters, adsorbers and catalysts
- Measure and analyse air quality in the laboratory and using digital methods
Your contribution
You develop processes that protect the air we breathe — a direct contribution to public health and sustainability for our society.
Environmental Footprints & Life Cycle Assessment
To reduce emissions, we must understand where they occur. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides that insight and guides sustainable product and process design.
What You Will Learn
- Calculate and evaluate ecological footprints
- Conduct Life Cycle Assessments (LCA)
- Develop sustainable products and processes
- Combine technical innovation with environmental awareness
Your contribution
You actively help shape the path towards a climate-neutral future — through technical expertise, sound knowledge and an understanding of global interdependencies.
Renewable Energy, Efficiency, Storage & Hydrogen
Energy is the driving force of our society, and it must become more efficient and environmentally friendly. You will learn how energy in technical systems can be optimally used, stored and replaced by renewable sources.
What You Will Learn
- Understand and apply heat transfer and thermal processes
- Analyse and improve real-world systems in the laboratory
- Connect energy efficiency with sustainable production
- Integrate renewable energy sources and modern storage systems
- Apply hydrogen as an energy carrier of the future
Your contribution
You develop solutions that conserve energy, make efficient use of storage systems and protect the environment — an active contribution to the energy transition and the industry of tomorrow.
Career Perspectives: What can I do with this in the future?
Get started – shape your future!
A degree in sustainable and process engineering opens the door to outstanding career opportunities across industry, energy supply, environmental protection and the fast-growing green tech sector.
Process Engineering & Sustainable Industry
One of the core professional fields is process engineering, where you will design and optimise processes that use resources such as energy, water and raw materials as efficiently as possible — while actively protecting the environment. Graduates are in particular demand in the chemical industry, the energy sector, waste management and the food industry, developing environmentally sound and future-proof production processes.
Green Tech & Renewable Energies
The green tech industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors worldwide — and engineers with sustainability expertise are at its heart. With your specialist knowledge, you will find rewarding roles in the development of renewable energy systems, hydrogen technologies, energy storage and smart resource management. Whether in start-ups, established technology companies or research institutions, you will help shape the solutions that the world urgently needs.
Global Impact & Environmental Leadership
With your technical expertise and deep understanding of environmental systems, you will be well positioned to take on a leading role in solving global environmental challenges. Your degree prepares you for careers in environmental consultancy, policy-making bodies, international organisations and sustainability management — opening up career pathways worldwide.
Programme Structure: How does the programme work?
Courses in the foundation year are taught in Englisch. A compulsory German language course is also part of the programme. From the main stage of the degree programme onwards, teaching is conducted in German.
1st and 2nd Semester
3rd and 4th Semester
5th Semester: Internship
6th and 7th Semester
Documents
In the foundation course, students acquire basic knowledge of engineering fundamentals.
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Computer Science
- Fundamentals of Programming
- Algorithms and Data Structures
- Electrical Engineering with Laboratory Work
- Engineering Mechanics
- Materials
- Metals
- Polymers - German language and Academic Skills
A compulsory German language course is also part of the programme.
In the main course, the fundamentals are expanded and a broad range of subject-specific knowledge is taught. The lectures are supplemented by practical exercises in the laboratories.
- Specialist and technical electives (lectures and laboratories)
- Mathematics and Natural Sciences Specialisation
- Thermal process engineering
- Heat- and mass transfer with Laboratory
- Environmental & process analysis with laboratory
- Environmental laboratory
- Mechanical process engineering
- Process engineering laboratory
- Chemical engineering
- Chemistry & Analytic Laboratory
- Fluid dynamics
- Industrial ecology
- Interdisciplinary Qualification
- Extracurricular (interfaculty) studies
The newly acquired knowledge and skills are then applied in the internship, in which students work independently in an industrial company on real tasks from everyday engineering life.
- Practical experience in an industrial company
- Real tasks from everyday engineering life
- Independent working
- Engineering conditions
- Contact with experienced engineers
- Paid internship
- Option of foreign placement
In the advanced studies programme you have considerable freedom to choose your areas of focus, based on your experience from the practical semester. In addition, you can attend various lectures from other courses in the faculty. Of course, content on management and soft skills is not left out.
- Specialist and technical electives (lectures and laboratories)
- Project sustainable processes
- Project Planning and Colloquium
- Apparatus engineering
- Extracurricular (interfaculty) studies
The degree programme concludes with the Bachelor’s thesis, in which a project at the university or in cooperation with a company is independently planned, organised and implemented.
- Admission regulations (GER, this version is legally binding) | 226.88 KB
- Study and exam regulations (GER, this version is legally binding) | 399.98 KB
- Study and exam regulations, general part
- Study and exam regulations | SPO 2 | 220.05 KB
- Current elective course catalogue | 512.00 KB
- Course catalogue | SPO 2 (German) | 1.72 MB
Requirements and Application
The Environmental and Process Engineering programme has no admission restrictions, meaning you can enroll directly for a place on the programme. You can find all the information you need about the direct enrolment process at HHN on the website “Application for Bachelor's programs.”
Contact
Any questions?
Don't hesitate to contact us!
Studying at HHN
- Information for Degree Seekings
- Why Heilbronn?
- Campus for Technology
- Student Life & Service
- Tips for a Successful Start
- ACCESS² Preparation Year
Information for Degree Seekings
Why Heilbronn?
Meet friends, go shopping, party together. Study, work, relax by the Neckar River.
Eat ice cream, study in the library, go running in the park. Poetry slam, Asta party, and off to the Club.
There are many good reasons to study in Heilbronn. On the Heilbronn city website, you will find tips and information about student life and leisure activities in Heilbronn:
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Campus for Technology
Tinkering, developing, researching – and doing so sustainably. That is what the Faculty of Engineering at Heilbronn University's TechCampus in the south of Heilbronn stands for.
Student Life & Service
Our advisors will be happy to answer any specific questions you may have during your studies.
- Services for degree seeking students: International Career Service, International Student Support and Central Student Advisory Office
- Student dormitories around campus, free extracurricular courses and scholarship opportunities
- Student exchange programmes with around 200 partner universities from all over the world
Tips for a successful start to your studies
Start your studies well prepared: 8 tips on finding accommodation, financing your studies and other important topics.
ACCESS² Preparation Year
ACCESS² offers classes in English in Engeneering and Business in combination with language preparation.
