We research materials and technologies for the energy transition at KIT in the Helmholtz Association.

Our goal is to provide sustainable technologies for a society in which energy supply and material cycles are linked in a defossilized circular economy. This requires efficient solutions for the conversion, transport, storage and use of energy and energy sources.

Die Batterieforschung beschleunigen zu wollen, damit beschäftigt sich das 2023 gegründete Start-up Litona. Die Ausgründung aus dem KIT stellt dafür Testmaterial im Forschungsbereich für Natrium-Ionen-Batterietechnologien her. Litona
Start-ups at KIT: Litona

Materials for sustainable sodium-ion batteries: accelerating battery research is the goal of the start-up Litona, founded in 2023. The KIT spin-off produces test materials for research into sodium-ion battery technologies.

Interview KIT start-up forge
KIT coordinates EU project RISEnergy, which aims at cross-technology promotion and networking of all fields of renewable energiesKIT
Accelerating Innovations for Climate Neutrality

KIT coordinates EU project RISEnergy, which aims at cross-technology promotion and networking of all fields of renewable energies

KIT news in German
Perovskite Solar Cells: Vacuum Process Can Lead to Market Readiness; Various production approaches in research and industry – comparative study explores paths to mass productionT. Abzieher
Perovskite Solar Cells: Vacuum Process Can Lead to Market Readiness

Various production approaches in research and industry – comparative study explores paths to mass production

KIT news in German
Prof. Dittmeyer and the co-founders of ICODOS GmbH were awarded 3rd place in the Lothar Späth Prize 2023 at the Zeiss Planetarium in Jena. It was a great venue! We would like to thank the jury for recognizing the great work that ICODOS has done in such a
KIT and ICODOS win Lothar Späth Prize 2023

Prof. Dittmeyer and the co-founders of ICODOS GmbH were awarded 3rd place in the Lothar Späth Prize 2023 at the Zeiss Planetarium in Jena. It was a great venue!

ICODOS Website
Dr. Claramunt wins Blanc & Fischer Innovation Award 2023KIT, C. Bellamoli
Dr. Claramunt wins Blanc & Fischer Innovation Award 2023

This prize is awarded for the best dissertations from engineering faculties at KIT in recognition of outstanding research in the context of high innovation potential or successful transfer into practice.

Tweet@X | IMVT | KIT
KCOPKIT
Optics and Photonics: High-tech Center for KIT

The Karlsruhe Center for Optics and Photonics, KCOP, sets new standards and uses synergies - interdisciplinarity promotes exchange and innovation.

KIT news in German
AI for Perovskite Solar Cells: Key to Better Production  Artificial intelligence methods show researchers the way to improved manufacturing processes for high-efficiency solar cells - blueprint for other research fieldsKIT
AI for Perovskite Solar Cells: Key to Better Production

Artificial intelligence methods show researchers the way to improved manufacturing processes for high-efficiency solar cells - blueprint for other research fields

KIT news in German

TT-Prof. Dr. Moritz Wolf received the prestigious Carl-Zerbe Prize

TT-Prof. Dr. Moritz Wolf received the prestigious Carl-Zerbe Prize Leuten, DVV Media
From left to right: Dr. Gesa Netzeband (Managing Director of DGMK), TT-Prof. Dr. Moritz Wolf (Carl-Zerbe Awardee), Prof. Dr. Dieter Vogt (Head of DGMK Division Petrochemistry).

TT-Prof. Dr. Moritz Wolf has received the prestigious Carl-Zerbe Prize from the German Scientific Society for Sustainable Energy Sources, Mobility and Carbon Cycles e. V. (DGMK). The prize recognizes outstanding scientific work by young scientists in the fields of processing and application of carbon carriers, such as their conversion. The award, endowed with €5,000, was presented at the DGMK/ÖGEW/SCI Conference "C1 Building Blocks for Future Chemistry" on October 12, 2023 in Dresden. Mr. Wolf holds the Tenure-Track Professorship "Catalyst Materials for the Energy Transition" at the Engler-Bunte-Institut and is active in his independent research with a working group at the Institute for Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT). His research topics focus on catalyst and process development for chemical energy carriers, for example via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), or the conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbons.

Announcement at DGMK website: https://dgmk.de/en/news/carl-zerbe-award-for-prof-dr-moritz-wolf-from-karlsruher-institute-for-technology-kit/

How will power-based fuels and chemicals replace the current fossil feedstock in future?

Joint Workshop Power-based Fuels & Chemicals: Sharing progress and scientific challenges in our research program on June 20-21, 2023 at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Participants in front of the library at FZJ. FZJ
Participants in front of the library at FZJ.
Prof. Ulrike Krewer, spokesperson of "Power-based Fuels and Chemicals" in scientific exchange. Joint Workshop Power-based Fuels & Chemicals: Sharing progress and scientific challenges in our research program on June 20-21, 2023 at Forschungszentrum Jülich KIT
Prof. Ulrike Krewer, spokesperson of "Power-based Fuels and Chemicals" in scientific exchange
KIT participants behind the library at FZJ. KIT
KIT participants behind the library at FZJ.

To achieve the climate targets, sector coupling and electrification based on renewable energies in the energy sector and industry must be optimized in a joint holistic approach. Up to now, 70 - 80 percent of basic chemical materials are taken from fossil sources. In the future, fuels and chemicals must come from renewable electricity for green hydrogen and renewable or recycled carbon sources such as CO2, biomass or waste

In order to provide technologies, materials and processes for these challenges, the approximately 200 scientists in the "Power-based Fuels and Chemicals" subtopic are working together in six themes:

  1. MIEC membrane reactors
  2. Conversion of CO/CO2-rich syngas
  3. Technologies for LOHC - Liquid organic hydrogen carriers
  4. Direct electrochemical synthesis (Electocatalysis beyond hydrogen)
  5. Modular integrated plants
  6. Plasma reactors / Plasma activation of inert molecules

Prof. Ulrike Krewer (KIT), Prof. Olivier Guillon (FZJ) and Prof. Wilhelm Meulenberg (FZJ) welcomed the participants. The presentations and the poster session with 43 posters gave the opportunity for discussion and exchange of new ideas. The program also included a tour of the institutes and laboratories at FZJ.

The next meeting of Subtopics 3.2 '"Power-based Fuels and Chemicals" will take place in June 2024 at KIT. Many thanks for the hospitality and the excellent organization and preparation of the event by the colleagues from Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Research Highlights

Picture a Scientist - Portrait Svetlana Korneychuk

Dr. Svetlana Korneychuk studies the fundamental behavior of materials in hydrogen applications such as fuel cells or metallic nanoparticles. KIT
Dr. Svetlana Korneychuk studies the fundamental behavior of materials in hydrogen applications such as fuel cells or metallic nanoparticles.

The Hydrogen Researcher

"The energy of tomorrow is water, which has been broken down by electric current. The elements of water broken down in this way, hydrogen and oxygen, will secure the Earth’s energy supply far into the future”. For Jules Verne, this was a vision he wrote down in his 1875 novel "The Mysterious Island." Dr. Svetlana Korneychuk, however, likes to quote the French author because his vision is closer to reality today than ever before. With her work at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the researcher contributes to making hydrogen as an energy carrier affordable and suitable for everyday use.

The Sun Catcher

The Hydrogen Researcher

Portrait Alexander Navarrete Muñoz, The Plasma Summoner

 Picture A Scientist

Portrait Philipp Röse - A Conversion Artist

Picture a Scientist

Workshop "Grid Integration of Electrolysis" with KIT Technology and Grid Experts

Workshop "Grid Integration of Electrolysis" with KIT Technology and Grid Experts KIT
Paricipants of the KIT workshop at IMVT

Scientists of the Helmholtz programs ESD and MTET discussed scientific and technical issues of the grid integration of electrolysis and subsequent steps on May 12, 2023, at KIT Campus North. After a first scientific and technical exchange on the important key topics, working groups were formed to deal with the following issues in the future:

  • What kind of transient data do we need/could we use? (experimental side)
  • Co-simulation in open software sense (modeling)
  • How to connect renewable energy sources to electrolysers in the most efficient way? The role of power electronics in connecting electrolysers to the grid.
  • How to design electrolyzer systems? Operation of electrolyzer itself (SOH, interfaces,…)
  • Dynamics of the downstream processes; role of storage as buffer
The joint competences of the colleagues at KIT will also be bundled to write a white paper on "Grid integration of electrolysis".

Workshop "Urban Resource Hub" - What are the challenges of recycling now and in the future?

Representatives from industry, environmental authorities and academia met on March 15-16, 2023 to discuss challenges of material cycles in a circular economy
 KIT
The current and future challenges of recycling were presented and discussed from the perspective of manufacturers, recyclers and environmental authorities.
 KIT
Together, important questions and expert knowledge were discussed in the World Café. In small groups, the participants discussed the challenges of recycling in different sectors and industries.
 KIT
Representatives from industry, public authorities and Helmholtz scientists from HZDR, HIF and KIT met to discuss the challenge of a circular economy and to develop joint research projects.

The workshop "Urban Resource Hub" took place at the ZEISS Innovation Hub focused on the current and future challenges of recycling in a circular economy from the perspective of manufacturers (Sto Group), recyclers (Nordmineral-Recycling, Heinrich Feeß GmbH, Becker Elektrorecycling Chemnitz GmbH, Remondis SE) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

  • "Technology, logistics, time and money - an insight into recycling WDVS (external thermal insulation composite systems)"
  • "Building material versus waste"
  • "Legal framework of circular economy"
  • "Circular economy in the construction industry"
  • "Potential for recyclable materials in household collection"
  • "Circular economy as a building block of the sustainability strategy"

After a series of keynote presentations on the topic from the various sectors and on the legal framework, an exchange between the participants in small groups was moderated in the further course using the World Café method. Afterwards the results of each table were presented and discussed together. This exchange enabled Helmholtz-researchers of the Topic "Resource and Energy Efficiency" from HIF, HZDR and KIT to understand what academia can contribute: to identify systemic links and technologies that can be further developed through joint projects and in collaborations.

In the last part of the workshop, ideas for specific projects and calls for proposals at national (AiF, BMBF, BMWK) and EU level were developed in small groups in a "funding market".

Many thanks for the fruitful discussions and the open exchange to all participating guests from the companies, from the Federal Environment Agency and from the Helmholtz Centers HZDR, HIF and KIT!

High-Temperature Superconductivity - "In principle, there is no better way to transport or use electricity"

Interview with Prof. Tabea Arndt at BMWK's "Energy Efficiency Research for Industry and Trade" congress in Berlin in May 2022
Research networks promote knowledge transfer!

By loading you accept YouTube's privacy policy.

Prof. Tabea Arndt is curator of the Research Field High-Temperature Superconductivity of the Research Network "Industry and Commerce" which is a part of the Research Networks Energy of the BMWK.

More information about the research networks energy:

Zeitenwende Energy Security

3+1 initiatives to rapidly improve the security of supply of energy and energy materials. The fourth initiative is RESUR a Helmholtz platform for the design of robust energy systems and raw material supply. 

Visit our Labs!

3D printing laboratory & Fischer Tropsch synthesis plant
By loading you accept YouTube's privacy policy.

Plastics pyrolysis laboratory
By loading you accept YouTube's privacy policy.

Application and Research Fields Hydrogen

In future, hydrogen will play an key role in the defossilization of sectors that cannot be directly electrified with renewable electricity: chemical industry, steel production, as well as shipping and aviation.

Hydrogen can be produced by renewable energy through electrolysis of water, methane pyrolysis of biogas or pyrolysis and gasification of residual biomass and waste. This green hydrogen can be used in the steel industry and for the production of basic chemicals and PtX products in the chemical industry. This allows a defossilization of the industrial sector, which until now has used fossil energy and fossil material sources. An application in the mobility sector is also possible where the direct use of electricity from renewable energies is impossible.

We are actively involved in the fields of production, storage, transport, distribution, application and cross-cutting issues. >>> More information

New KIT Graduate School ENZo

MTET key themes are represented in the KIT Graduate School "Enabling Net Zero" under the roof of the KIT Energy Center.
The new graduate school ENZo

The new graduate school ENZo offers the next generation of young researchers the opportunity to apply interdisciplinary knowledge in application-oriented projects that can visibly contribute to the transformation of the energy system.
Future researchers are characterized not only by their desire to understand how developments and technologies can be embedded in the overall context of the energy system, but also by their desire to contribute to its sustainable design. MTET themes such as

  • Renewable Energy,
  • Sector Coupling Industry - Electricity, Heat, Chemical Energy (Sources), and
  • Circular Economy - Use of Raw Materials and Energy

are holisticly combined in the "Real World Projects" with the important viewpoints and aspects such as

  • Machine Learning and Digital Tools
  • Technoeconomics Assessment, Interaction with Society, Acceptance and Social Developments.

Embedded in the manifold technological and scientific possibilities at the KIT Energy Center, ENZo creates a unique development environment for PhD students.

look KIT: Energylab 2.0 KIT
Energy Lab 2.0

... combines electric, thermal & chemical energy flows as well as new information & communication technologies as the only infrastructure of this kind in Germany.

more
Transfer von Wissen und Technologie KIT
Transfer of Knowledge and Technology
Talent Management
Talent Management
 KIT
Bioeconomy

Subject of the Science Year 2020/21 plays an important role in the MTET Topics Chemical Energy Carriers and Ressource & Energy Efficiency.

more
Technik. Folgen. Visionen. KIT
Technology. Implications. Visions.

MTET contents presented in the new look KIT issue: Closing the plastics loop / 42 / Hydrogen test center / 50 / Li extraction by geothermal plants / 57 /

more