Mannheim, March 24, 2025 - A pioneering innovation from Mannheim is setting new standards in the production of sustainable fuel. For the first time, sustainable marine fuel is being produced from wastewater and electricity in a globally unique plant. Behind it is a consortium consisting of the climate technology start-up ICODOS GmbH, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Eigenbetrieb Stadtentwässerung (EBS) Mannheim. This pioneering project utilizes the immense potential of wastewater treatment plants - there are around 9,000 of them in Germany alone, and the number is estimated at up to 75,000 at EU level.

Detailed caption: Joint opening of the “Mannheim 001” plant with (from left to right) David Strittmatter, Managing Director and co-founder of ICODOS; Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister; Alexander Mauritz, Head of Municipal Wastewater Management; Dr. Fracisco Vidal Vázquez, Managing Director and co-founder of ICODOS; Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roland Dittmeyer (IMVT, KIT); KIT Vice President Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth.

Press Release: a) ICODOS, b) Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs, c) KIT

In order to achieve the climate goals, sector coupling and electrification based on renewable energies in the energy sector and industry must be optimized in a joint, holistic approach. Today, 70 to 80 percent of chemical feedstocks are derived 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.

To provide the technologies, materials and processes to meet these challenges, the approximately 200 scientists in the "Power-based Fuels and Chemicals" subtopic are working together in six topic areas:

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, Helmholtz Subtopic Spokesperson), Prof. Jörg Sauer (KIT Program Spokesperson) and Prof. Roland Dittmeyer (KIT Topic Spokesperson) welcomed the 115 participants. The presentations and the poster session with about 50 posters provided an opportunity for discussion and exchange of new ideas. The program also included a tour of the research facilities at KIT Campus North and South on a sunny June day.

Participants were invited to visit three of the six possible stations on the lab tour.

1. Power to X Lab @ Energy Lab
2. Catalyst Design Center (CDC) @ IKFT
3. Liquid Metal Based Thermochemistry and Heat Storage @ ITES
4. Plasma Laboratory @ IHM
5. 3D Printing Lab & Electro Catalysis of CO2 @IMVT
6. Electrochemistry Lab @ IAM-ET, Campus South (bus transfer)

Our website offers information about the scientists who have presented their laboratories and their research topics.

• Dr. Herrera Delgado works at the Catalyst Design Center (CDC),
• Dr. Navarrete Muñoz investigates the activation of carbon dioxide with microwave plasma,
• Dr. Philipp Röse is working on direct electrochemical synthesis,
• Dr. Klarissa Niedermeier investigates Liquid Metal Based Thermochemistry and Heat Storage.

One of the EU’s goals is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. On our way there, the RISEnergy (stands for: Research Infrastructure Services for Renewable Energy) project aims to accelerate the development of innovations for the use of renewable energy sources and the commercialization of the respective technologies. Above all, access of researchers and companies to research infrastructures in European and non-European countries will be facilitated. The project coordinated by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will start on March 1, 2024. RISEnergy will be funded by the European Commission with about EUR 14.5 million for a duration of four and a half years.

RISEnergy will create  a European ecosystem covering all areas of renewable energy technologies. We want to push the development of promising technologies from the laboratory level to industrial maturity. Joint research infrastructure projects have already been launched for certain technologies, but RISEnergy is the first project of this dimension in Europe that covers all areas of renewable energy technologies: Photovoltaics, Concentrated Solar Power, Hydrogen, Biofuels, Wind Energy, OceanEnergy, as well as Integrated Grids, Energy Storage, Materials Research, Information and Communication Technologies.

Consortium of Institutions from 22 Countries 

The RISEnergy consortium consists of 69 technology institutes, universities, and industry partners from 22 countries. The partners contribute with their infrastructures, know-how, or provide organizational support. 

Researchers Can Apply

Within the framework of RISEnergy, 84 research infrastructures from 19 European countries, the USA, Canada, and Japan will open their facilities to external researchers and company developers, who can apply for access. An expert committee will decide. If approved, RISEnergy will cover the costs of the research facility as well as travel and accommodation expenses. Most of the project budget will be used for this purpose.

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.

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 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.