Start of the TransHyDE implementation project CAMPFIRE
TransHyDE is being launched, one of three hydrogen flagship projects of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from the future package for implementing the "National Hydrogen Strategy" adopted in 2020 in Germany. With its largest research initiative to date on the energy transition, the BMBF is supporting Germany's entry into the hydrogen economy. The three hydrogen flagship projects are the result of an ideas competition. Over a period of four years, they are intended to remove existing obstacles that are hindering Germany's entry into a hydrogen economy. The projects focus on the series production of large-scale water electrolysers (H2Giga), the production of hydrogen and downstream products at sea (H2Mare) and technologies for hydrogen transport (TransHyDE).
To advance Germany on its path to climate neutrality, several hundred million tonnes of hydrogen will be needed annually. Germany will produce some of this itself, but the vast majority will have to be imported from regions with abundant wind and solar resources. In both cases, functioning and efficient transport infrastructures are needed, as hydrogen is rarely used where it is produced. Transport infrastructures for short, medium and long distances are therefore urgently needed.
The TransHyDE flagship project, with over 80 partners from industry, associations, universities and research institutions, will therefore comprehensively develop transport technologies – in a technology-neutral manner along various possible development paths. TransHyDE is advancing transport technologies in four implementation and five accompanying research projects: hydrogen transport in high-pressure containers, liquid hydrogen transport, hydrogen transport in existing and new gas pipelines, and the transport of hydrogen bound in ammonia. The TransHyDE research projects are working on the creation of a roadmap for hydrogen infrastructure. This requires new standards, norms and safety regulations for hydrogen transport technologies, as well as the necessary materials, components and sensors. Research into the efficient extraction of hydrogen from ammonia and the refuelling of containers with liquid, cryogenic hydrogen is also part of the research projects.
As the largest implementation project in TransHyDE, the regional partner alliance CAMPFIRE, coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) in Greifswald, the Centre for Fuel Cell Technology in Duisburg and Inherent Solution Consult GmbH & Co KG in Rostock, is coordinating the research and development activities for technologies to implement the entire transport chain for green ammonia. At the Poppendorf site on the industrial premises of YARA Rostock, industry-relevant test and trial fields for the new technologies are being set up in the COIL - CAMPFIRE Open Innovation Lab. The focus is on the development of logistics structures and refuelling facilities for ammonia imports and the operation of ships powered by green ammonia, load-flexible ammonia plants for the seasonal production of ammonia from renewable energy, and dynamic conversion technologies for stationary and mobile energy supply, as well as ammonia-to-hydrogen filling stations. The partners are developing concepts for the economical distribution of ammonia in industrial environments, as well as the legal framework and ways to increase acceptance of ammonia among the general public and en s among customers. "These projects are about opening up new economic potential for our regional companies. On the one hand, the companies are to be introduced to the development of technology fields and the establishment of value chains in the future-oriented field of ammonia and hydrogen. On the other hand, the technologies developed in the TransHyDE project CAMPFIRE offer new economic opportunities for companies to minimise their carbon footprint. A particular focus is also on developing a Europe-wide visible location for green ammonia and hydrogen technologies on the industrial site in Rostock-Poppendorf," explains Dr Angela Kruth, spokesperson and coordinator of CAMPFIRE. New technologies for the implementation of ammonia as a carbon-free hydrogen carrier are an important prerequisite for achieving climate targets, i.e. the necessary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 95 per cent by 2050.
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More than 240 partners from science and industry are working together in the hydrogen flagship projects. Total funding will amount to over 740 million euros. The CAMPFIRE alliance was founded in 2018 as part of the BMBF WIR! "Change through Innovation" programme. The alliance now has over 60 partners, representing around 80 per cent of the companies involved, and is mainly based in the north-east of Germany. They are working together to enable companies in the north-east and across Germany to become exporters of new technologies for a future global carbon-free ammonia-hydrogen energy system.
