PHOENIX

Duration: 15 November 2024-14 November 2028

Funding provider: BMBF Funding reference: 03SF0775C

Initial situation:

The Rhenish mining area is to be transformed into a model region for climate-neutral and self-sufficient industrial processes and thus lay the foundation for sustainable employment through future-proof jobs in the core sectors of the chemical industry, energy industry and plant construction. To this end, previously fossil-based value chains are to be replaced by sustainable approaches based on Power-to-X technology (P2X) and without the need to import energy sources. Sustainable P2X value chains enable the efficient and flexible production of CO2-neutral material energy sources, synthetic fuels and CO2-negative base chemicals using electricity generated from renewable sources. These climate-friendly material products can be used in the lead markets and sectors of energy, heat, chemicals and transport & traffic to replace climate-damaging fossil-based energy sources. P2X products therefore make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and thus help to achieve the goals of the energy transition, the agreement to phase out coal-fired power generation and international climate agreements. P2X thus provides a key technology for sector coupling and the establishment of a circular carbon economy. This opens up great economic potential in the production of ‘green’ recyclable materials. In addition, new business areas are opening up for industrial unavoidable CO2 point sources, such as thermal waste utilisation plants or the paper, cement, metal and glass industries, in which CO2 replaces fossil carbon sources as a regenerative carbon source in sustainable P2X value chains.

The project:

The project, in which partners from research and industry work together, is divided into ten work packages. The NOWUM-Energy Institute at FH Aachen focuses on the de-fossilisation of the fuel sector through biogas valorisation. In a fermentation process, alternative, usable residues from the agricultural sector, catering, food production and the paper industry are first converted into a biogas consisting mainly of CH4 and CO2. In a downstream high-temperature fuel cell and electrolysis process, electricity is produced in fuel cell mode, which can be used to charge electric vehicles. If there is no local demand for electricity, the system can be switched to electrolysis mode. This process then produces a synthesis gas that can be used as a raw material for fuel production in the chemical industry in the Rhenish mining area. The location of such a demonstrator is ideally close to a chemical production plant because the residual materials are easier to transport than the synthesis gas. On the other hand, the location of a biogas plant is also a good option. With a downstream Fischer-Tropsch reactor, synthetic diesel can be produced directly on site for farmers. Local use of the electricity and fuels produced will contribute to the de-fossilisation of the fuel sector.

Objectives:

The overarching goal of accelerated innovation cycles is to be achieved through an agile technology development approach. In sustainable P2X value chains, electrolysis, as the most energy-intensive conversion process, represents the key technology and is consequently at the centre of technology development.

The P2X value chains that are possible but not yet fully realised on the basis of energy-efficient and time-flexible electrolysis technologies range from a ‘green’ hydrogen vector (hydrogen economy) to processes of a ‘green’ CO2 circular economy (beyond-hydrogen economy). For the technology entry of P2X value chains, there is therefore a need to develop both advanced H2O electrolysis technologies and novel technologies for CO2 electrolysis and co-electrolysis. The research and development requirements for the realisation of sustainable P2X value chains are concentrated on electrolysis as a key technology, with agile technology development focusing on the work packages low-temperature electrolysis for P2 with technology development and validation, low-temperature electrolysis for P2X with system development and high-temperature electrolysis for P2X with SOC stack development.