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Together with Air Liquide, Limak Cement Group has successfully tested the first hydrogen-blended fuel supply for cement production in Ankara, Turkey. H2-international conducted an interview with Erkam Kocakerim, CEO of Limak Cement Global.
After more than 50 years of experience with hydrogen, Honeywell is also banking on green hydrogen with its company Energy and Sustainability Solutions (ESS). The US conglomerate takes the entire value chain into account: from more efficient PEM electrolysis all the way to transport infrastructure.
Fuel cell systems have much fewer components compared to other energy converters such as internal combustion engines, but even they need pumps and valves as well as the corresponding sensors. Thus, among other things, precise hydrogen dosing, safe hydrogen cut-off and precise water separation in the anode circuit of the fuel cell must be guaranteed.
What developments! We are living in turbulent times. Several transformative processes are currently taking place at the same time: Not only the energy, transport and heating transition with the move away from fossil fuels or the social trend towards increasingly autocratic structures, but also the...
The push for more sustainable hydrogen generation has never been more critical, fueled by industries striving to decarbonize. And although green hydrogen production via water electrolysis holds immense promise for decarbonization, it grapples with a harsh reality: an almost complete dependence on an expensive and environmentally taxing resource. But what’s the deal with iridium? And can hydrogen live up to its reputation as a key tool for industrial decarbonization?
UFI Hydrogen may not yet be particularly well known to many industry participants in Germany, but the company, based in the Trento area of Italy, is part of the globally active UFI Group, which has 57 commercial offices and 22 plants worldwide (in Europe, Tunisia, China, India, Korea and Brazil, among others). Its products, mainly filters and components for thermal management, are in demand in many sectors. H2-international spoke to Marco Lazzaroni, CEO of UFI Hydrogen, the youngest company in the UFI Group, about the current economic situation in Europe, the potential of the H2 economy and, of course, the ambitions of UFI’s hydrogen business.
Nordrhein-Westfalen is further expanding its capacities in the H2 research sector. In September 2024, the expanded HyTechLab4NRW in Duisburg went into operation. Since then, the site of the Center for Fuel Cell Technology has provided even better conditions for research into fuel cells and...
The hydrogen economy as a crucial technology for replacing fossil resources is subject to high expectations in terms of sustainability. Hardly any other growth area is the subject of such controversial discussions about how ‘green’ it really is. In the context of resources, the hydrogen economy however is about more than just ideological considerations. Electrolysers and fuel cells contain rare and valuable raw materials, such as the precious metals iridium and platinum. From economic and strategic perspectives, they must be recovered after the end of their life. Recycling is a must—and should be considered from the outset, not only when the end of life of the plants and vehicles is reached. But where does the circular economy stand today in the context of hydrogen? We provide an overview using the example of PEM technology.
The course to success of Siqens began with special methanol fuel cells. Then came the electrochemical hydrogen separation (EHS) in addition, based on the self-developed HT-PEM-FC stacks. With their help, hydrogen can be separated from natural gas or waste gases from industry and waste incineration with a high degree of purity. The manufacturer also sees EHS in combination with its own fuel cells as a solution to the last mile problem.
In times of global sensitization to economic and especially ecological issues, awareness of energy-efficient whole solution strategies across the entire value chain and the sustainable use of available resources is also growing. Before profitable mass production of bipolar plates can begin, a whole series of developments and preliminary investigations are necessary in the product creation process, to determine the optimum efficiency depending on the design and execution. As this cannot be done with the help of simulations alone, experimental investigations are indispensable.
To facilitate and accelerate the recovery of hydrogen from ammonia, researchers from the institute for inorganic chemistry of the university Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) have developed, in its project AmmoRef (duration 04/2021-03/2025), a more active and cost-effective catalyst together with its cooperation partners. The results of this work are retained in the hydrogen lead project (Wasserstoff-Leitprojekt) TransHyDE of the Germany ministry for education and research (BMBF). AmmoRef is one of ten TransHyDE projects that are funded by the BMBF. In it, existing technologies for hydrogen transport are to be improved.
The startup Yellow SiC from Berlin is working on an innovative technology that does not require electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen. Yellow cells made of silicon carbide generate hydrogen directly on their surface. They utilize a broader spectrum of sunlight in this than other solar cells. Depending on the location, the production of “golden hydrogen” could be significantly cheaper than the production of green hydrogen from solar power. In this way, 6 cents per kWh could be achieved, even at our latitudes.
In the year 1999, Christian Machens developed the world's first fuel cell boat, the Hydra, and thereby laid the foundation for innovations that will extend far into the future. Now, 25 years later, he is once again setting standards in the technology landscape – this time with a world first that has the potential to fundamentally change the safety analysis of systems.
Green hydrogen is considered one of the key ingredients for meeting global climate targets. And it is also a possible alternative to gas, which makes the need to accelerate the hydrogen economy in Germany and Europe all the more urgent. However, establishing a hydrogen economy requires more than just innovative technologies for its production, transmission and utilization. It demands digital solutions to raise efficiency, forecast hydrogen demand and supply, monitor transmission and storage and ensure the safe use of hydrogen in a variety of applications. Yet there has so far been little or insufficient sharing of the data needed to perform these tasks among potential market participants. The primary reasons for this are a lack of trust and a fear of competitive disadvantage. The HyTrust project, funded by the German education and research ministry, now intends to tackle these challenges by creating a data trustee model in the hydrogen economy.
Extremely high demands are placed on tools for punching, stamping and forming sheet metals. In some cases, accuracies of between 1 µm and 2 µm are required during manufacturing. The level of challenge increases drastically the larger the tool and the thinner the sheet. The stamping plates for the sheet-metal parts in fuel cell bipolar plates are a prime example. Bipolar plates are thin structures made from welded sheet-metal half shells that enclose the filigree flow fields. They are built up one after another in many layers, with the membrane electrode assemblies sandwiched in between, to produce the final stack.
At a container terminal in Hamburg, a test field for heavy-duty vehicles with hydrogen drives is being built. The first tractor unit is now in use.
Where East Germany’s famous Trabant cars were once made, H2 trucks will now exit cleanly from the production hall. This technological shift from two-stroke engines to fuel cell trucks won’t just benefit automotive service provider FES. Michael Kretschmer, minister president of the German state of Sachsen who witnessed the milestone on July 22, 2024, hopes the region as a whole will reap the rewards.
Bipolar plates based on carbon can be a cheaper and, at the same time, scalable alternative to titanium, think researchers at the institute Fraunhofer UMSICHT. A new and patented carbon-based bipolar plate from the scientists consists of a thermoplastic polymer-bonded carbon matrix with conductive...
Many of the technologies for H2 transport are not yet fully developed. Researchers and industry are working to develop safe H2 distribution over long distances, also because Germany will be dependent on H2 imports on a large scale. In addition to ammonia, liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) have a good chance of being employed in projects and industry. Because they could use the conventional infrastructure of oil tanks and tankers.
How to ramp up the production of green hydrogen in just a few years and distribute it quickly across the country independently of the development of the H2 core network explained Jens Cruse, shipbuilding engineer, at the end of January this year before an expert audience in Hamburg.
Energy group Axpo and the company Rhiienergie have launched the first H2 production plant for green hydrogen in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland. The plant, which has a capacity of 2.5 megawatts, will produce up to 350 metric tons of hydrogen a year and is situated directly adjacent...
The European Commission is allocating nearly 720 million euros to seven projects for renewable hydrogen in Europe. Together, the involved stakeholders aim to produce 1.58 million tons of renewable hydrogen over ten years, thereby avoiding more than 10 million tons of CO2 emissions. Of the selected...
In Hydrogen Lab Bremerhaven, manufacturers and operators of electrolyzers can put their systems to the test. The fluctuating feed-in of wind power is, in contrast to the steady mode of operation, a challenge. How the associated complex processes can be optimized engineers are now testing in real operation.
In the field of flow measurement, the use of hydrogen, especially regeneratively produced hydrogen, as a process gas and energy carrier has become a focal point in many applications. Due to the need to use storage capacity efficiently, hydrogen must be stored under high pressure or in liquid state. Metrologically verified quantity measurement is needed for the low to high pressure range of gaseous and liquefied hydrogen applications. In addition, appropriate traceability chains to the SI system need to be established for the wide range of operating conditions in order to make valid statements about the measurement accuracy and stability of the flow meters used. The EMPIR project 20IND11 MetHyInfra addresses these challenges by providing reliable data, metrological infrastructure, validated procedures and normative support.
The cooperative FRHY project, which forms part of the German flagship hydrogen initiative H2Giga, is aimed at scaling up electrolyzer manufacturing. Increasing electrolyzer production rates requires new technical solutions. To facilitate the development of these essential technologies a model stack was created as a point of reference. Named the FRHY Stack, it is a high-efficiency electrolyzer with the potential for industrial mass production which also supports knowledge and technology transfer.
