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 scientific contributions of KIT energy research to the accelerated implementation of the energy transition were the focus of the conference on July 14, 2022. After the welcoming address by KIT President Holger Hanselka, there were presentations from the Topics of the KIT Energy Center on the following subjects, among others:

• Change of times in energy supply: When and with which technology? (Prof. Dr. Eva Schill, INE)
• Finding the batteries of tomorrow today (T.T. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Helge S. Stein, HIU)
• Energy Use: From renewable electricity to chemical energy sources via integrated process chains (Prof. Dr. Ute Karl and Michael Riedinger, EIFER and IMVT)

In the further course of the program, the Heinrich Hertz Award was presented by Dr. Christoph Müller Netze BW GmbH to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jutta Hanson from the Technical University Darmstadt.

The poster session allowed young scientists and PhD students to present and discuss their research results. The poster prize of the EnBW Foundation was awarded by Prof. Dr. Wolfram Münch EnBW AG to Mr. Ankur Ghosh Chowdhurya. Who presented the results of his work titled

• "Synthesis of stable zinc oxide based catalysts for carrying out direct dehydrogenation of methanol to achieve (a) anhydrous formaldehyde & (b) highly selective hydrogen as by-product".

He has carried out this work as a BASF PhD student at IKFT/KIT in the framework of the NAMOSYN project.

Interesting talks and discussions on energy topics between the researchers of the KIT Energy Center and the guests from industry and science could be held in the afternoon and evening at the summer party in a convivial atmosphere in front of the KIT Casino. Many thanks to KIT Energy Center for organizing this nice event!

KIT news in German >>>

Energy Solutions: From May 30 to June 2, 2022, KIT will present selected highlights from the technological development.

Energy Transition and Circular Economy

CarbonCycleLab 

The CarbonCycleLab covers the complete process chain of the future carbon cycle: From residues and waste materials to basic chemical substances produced on their basis that will replace fossil fuels in chemical industry. The CarbonCycleLab combines the energy transition with circular economy and thus contributes to making future economy resource-efficient, climate-neutral, and competitive. 

Data sheet

From a Climate-damaging Greenhouse Gas to an Economically Viable Material

NECOC – Negative Emissions by Separating Atmospheric CO₂ into Economically Viable Carbon Black and Oxygen

A consortium of KIT institutes and industrial companies has developed an integrated process to achieve negative emissions. Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) is decomposed into elemental carbon (carbon black, C) and oxygen (O₂). The solid carbon in the form of microgranular powder is separated and then, as a high-priced educt, used in rubber, construction, or electrical industries.

Towards Competitive Renewable Fuels

Startup ICODOS 

KIT’s startup ICODOS has developed a technology that efficiently combines carbon dioxide separation and methanol synthesis and, hence, contributes to making renewable fuels competitive. Initial implementation will concentrate on biogas. However, it is planned to also use the technology for other CO₂ point sources in cement industry, for instance. A pilot plant is under construction and will be integrated in KIT’s Energy Lab 2.0. 

Further information

• Press release on the Hannover Messe 2022
• Magazine lookKIT on digitalization and sustainability
• Technology transfer  - ICODOS ∂ IMVT website

Mr. Harald Ebner, Member of the German Parliament and Chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection visited KIT on March 31, 2022. In a discussion with scientists, Mr. Ebner informed himself, on the current context of the Ukraine crisis, how the dependence on fossil raw materials, such as oil, natural gas, and coal, can be overcome quickly.

On the one hand, this can be achieved by using biomass and carbon dioxide as a carbon source in industrial production processes, since today's industrial value networks are almost entirely based on fossil carbon.  On the other hand, the carbon cycle must be closed within the framework of a circular economy. KIT is researching the technologies required for this:

• At the Carbon Cycle Lab we are researching the chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste;
• At the bioliq® pilot plant, we are researching how fuels and chemical feedstocks can be efficiently produced from residual biomass;
• At the Energy Lab 2.0, we are researching various technologies for storing renewable electricity in the form of chemical energy carriers.

The extraordinary importance of plastics recycling is due to the following reasons: Few of today's products are made of only one type of plastic, which could be recycled by simple mechanical collection by type. The processing of multiple types of plastics with additives for specific functions in laptops, cars, packaging and construction plastics makes it necessary to separate them back into their basic chemical building blocks. Pyrolysis is a chemical recycling process that converts plastic waste into gaseous, liquid and solid products in an inert atmosphere and at elevated temperature to replace fossil petrochemical feedstocks. So far, only a very small part of the world's annual plastic production (> 350 million tons) is actually recycled, therefore these techniques are crucial for a Circular Carbon Economy to implement the European Green Deal and become climate neutral by 2050.

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.