Challenge #29
Using energy islands for low-cost CO2-neutral electrofuels.
To reduce the high cost of green hydrogen and e-fuels, we are developing stand-alone solutions for offshore platforms, tropical rainforest areas, and desert regions where there is no infrastructure but a particularly high potential for renewable energy.
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In a CO2-neutral world, green hydrogen and green chemical energy carriers derived from it will be necessary for industry and certain segments of transportation, such as aircraft, freighter ships, and heavy trucking. Producing this economically requires, above all, low-cost renewable electricity, produced over as many hours of the year as possible. Then, the production facilities would be well utilized. Offshore wind turbines or solar power plants in desert regions that are not connected to the grid meet these requirements. Other such sites are located in tropical rainforest areas.
In order to produce e-fuels in stand-alone solutions at those sites efficiently, we are developing innovative technologies that work well in transient operation with a fluctuating power supply, are operated remotely, and produce fuels that meet specifications. We are also researching how the starting materials of CO2 and water can be efficiently extracted on site and how the wastewater can be treated for reuse in the electrolysis process. This way, we could produce chemical energy sources from renewable energies where it is cheapest and the ecological footprint would be minimized.
(Header: KIT)
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