(Leuna) – The first pilot plant for testing and scaling electrolysis systems has started operations in Leuna. The “Hydrogen Lab” is integrated into the chemical park. This supports the necessary market ramp-up of H2 technologies, according to the Fraunhofer Society, which, according to its own statements, “wants to further accelerate its hydrogen activities in the north and east of Germany”. Pilot projects “along the entire value chain of the hydrogen economy” are being built in Görlitz and Bremerhaven, and an “application center” is also being built in Hamburg.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems IWES and the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU are pooling their expertise. They cover “the entire process from CO2-neutral power generation through offshore and onshore energy production to the testing and optimization of electrolysis and the production of the systems used through to the storage, transport and use of green hydrogen.” it in a message.
From the laboratory to industry
“The aim of the first Fraunhofer Hydrogen Lab in Leuna is to transfer hydrogen technologies from the laboratory to an industrial scale,” explains Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer Society. In the middle of the Central German chemical triangle, the location, with its proximity to industry, will “quickly bring safe and effective solutions into use”.
The Hydrogen Lab Leuna offers modular test areas for electrolysis systems, power-to-X and power-to-liquid projects with a connected load of up to five megawatts. “In addition to the connection to the H2 pipeline network in Central Germany, the direct integration into the infrastructure of a chemical park also offers us access to the local chemical industry, which requires a lot of hydrogen,” says the deputy head of the Fraunhofer IMWS and coordinator of the activities in Leuna, Sylvia Schattauer. “We will therefore not only test and further develop electrolysers in Leuna, but will also devote ourselves to the issues of Power-to-X technologies.” The first project with a high-temperature electrolyser in the megawatt class in combination with the production of green methanol has already started .
Megawatt class Hydrogen Labs by the end of 2022
The three Hydrogen Labs have unique selling points: In Leuna, the pilot plant is directly connected to the pipeline of the regional chemical industry. In Görlitz (12,3 megawatts of connected load), the focus is on the generation, storage and use of hydrogen for mobile and stationary fuel cells, especially for mobility and to supply districts and industrial sites. This primarily included the evaluation of stacks and systems, microstructure analysis and diagnostics, digitalization, power electronics and certification. Commissioning is planned for the end of 2022.
The facility in Bremerhaven is scheduled to begin operations in mid-2022 with a connected load of two megawatts and can be expanded to ten megawatts. The site is connected to a megawatt wind turbine. There is also a virtual simulation of a power supply network in order to examine the electrical properties of electrolyzers. The laboratories are supplemented by an application center in Hamburg, where research is to be carried out on the modeling and control of decentralized, local energy systems.
deep link
https://www.imws.fraunhofer.de/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/hydrogen-lab-leuna.html
Photos
Representatives of the Fraunhofer Institutes and companies at the commissioning of the “Hydrogen Lab Leuna”. © Fraunhofer IMWS/Michael Deutsch
