The RE4Industry symposium “Uptake of Green Hydrogen for EIIs” took place at the premises of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Garching on 22 March 2023.
After a tour-de-table introducing all 20 participants, the symposium was opened by Dr Rainer Janssen from WIP who thanked all speakers and participants and highlighted the importance of discussing ongoing R&I in the field of green hydrogen as well as the most promising application opportunities in EIIs in Europe. Thereby, strategic decisions must be made on where to use this limited and highly valuable resource.
Key Messages:
RE4Industry Project Update
Alessandro Carmona, CIRCE, Spain
⚡ RE4Industry survey: public perception of hydrogen in Greece is positive.
⚡ Factors mostly affecting perceptions and acceptability are the benefits, trusts, costs, and risks.
⚡ Green hydrogen usage has large potential especially in the steel sector, by using H instead of a carbon reductant such as coke to produce direct reduced iron (DRI).
⚡ Demonstration project: Green H2 production at the Petronor refinery in Muskiz, Spain using a 2.5 MW capacity electrolyzer, logistics center for conditioning and storage, H use tests implemented by the H-Acero consortium.
⚡ Innovative technologies for H production (at lower TRL): biogas reforming, biomethane reforming, dark fermentation, biophotolysis, gasification, hydrothermal gasification, biomethane pyrolysis.
Glass Industry Decarbonisation Roadmap Overview
Christiane Nelles, Bundesverband Glasindustrie e.V., Germany
⚡ The Bundesverband Glasindustrie e.V. (BV Glas), based in Düsseldorf and Berlin, represents around 85 % of glass production in Germany.
⚡ Necessary transformation processes for the Decarbonisation of the German glass industry are complex and cost-intensive.
⚡ Avoid stranded investments and maintain competitiveness during and after the transformation phase.
⚡ Possible transformation pathways for the glass industry via electrification of processes and green hydrogen are investigated, preference for hybrid solutions.
⚡ Infrastructure necessary: Expansion of electricity and hydrogen grids.
Key Messages:
⚡ Greenhouse gas neutrality in the glass industry is in principle possible by 2045, except for process-related emissions.
⚡ Both fully electric and hybrid technologies (electricity, hydrogen, biogas) are needed for this.
⚡ Both technologies are not yet available on the market. There is a need for research and development.
⚡ With the exception of CCS, there are still no applicable technologies for process-related emissions. There is an increased need for research and development.
⚡ Recommendations for action: Carbon Contracts for Difference (CCfD), start-up financing, energy system, infrastructure, carbon leakage protection.
Research activities and projects in hydrogen and PtX technologies
Dr. Florian Kerscher Technische Universität München, Germany
⚡ The mission of the TUM Chair of Energy Systems (CES) is to develop solutions for efficient and low-emission fossil and renewable power generation.
⚡ The Motivation for hydrogen and PtX research Is to produce synthetic energy carriers as long-term energy storage and sector coupling technology.
⚡ Using hydrogen produced with renewable energy via water electrolysis, synthetic energy carriers function as long-term energy storage and sector coupling technology allowing the utilization of renewable energy in the heating & mobility sector as well as the chemical industry.
⚡ Research at TUM CES includes projects on reversible solid oxide cells (rSOC). The project BioCORE operates rSOC systems in a fuel cell (biogas to power) or electrolysis (electricity to synthetic methane or hydrogen) mode with a 10kW prototype system.
⚡ Further research areas include gasification, renewable chemicals and fuels, and Power-to-X routes.
⚡ Finally, the REDEFINE H2E project focuses on integrative research into novel technologies for the production of green hydrogen by means of high-temperature electrolysis and innovative gasification, as well as the synthesis of chemicals and energy carriers (e.g. iso-butanol) based on green hydrogen.
Green Hydrogen Supply and Utilisation Approaches at the Institute of New Energy Systems: Process Engineering and Application-oriented Infrastructure Perspectives
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wilfried Zörner, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Germany
⚡ The Institute of New Energy Systems at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt is involved in projects on Process Engineering for Green H2 Integration and application-oriented infrastructure perspectives.
⚡ FlexBiomethane project focuses on opportunities for the flexibilization of biogas plants by using excess power from PV/Wind to enrich the CH4 content in the gas storage of a biogas plant.
⚡ Hy2BioMethane project focuses on green hydrogen solutions for biogas upgrading and methanation.
⚡ International projects include ROAD on Green H2 -based freight transport solution for Namibia.
⚡ Finally, the project NORA aims at the investigation of methodologies and tools for the development and evaluation of green H2 production/ transport/ storage and use paths for individual sites and local applications.
Hydrogen at DLR – Focus on Steel Production; Challenges and Opportunities
Michael Kreuz; Das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V., Germany
⚡ At many DLR institutes in Germany several hundreds of researchers are engaged in hydrogen research at Large-scale infrastructures for hydrogen research.
⚡ Hydrogen-based direct reduction (DR) is regarded as the main road to green steel.
⚡ However, there is a lack of capacity to produce all the hydrogen required in the near future.
⚡ The substitution of natural gas with H2 will reduce the carbon content of the product DRI (direct reduced iron). Therefore, carbon-containing material needs to be introduced into the DR process.
⚡ This year is the European Year of Skills 2023, it is important to attract employees and equip them with the right skills and get them prepared for green hydrogen uptake.
⚡ The renewables sector is a massive source of talent competition across the energy sector.
⚡ There is a need to ensure the right talent is coming through at all levels, which includes a diverse mix of individuals from technical to management skills and from installers, electricians to engineers all equipped with up-to-date knowledge and understanding of hydrogen and hydrogen-related products.
