Press and Media

A novel electrochemical purification process for highly contaminated process wastewater is to generate hydrogen at the same time. In the AECO H2+ project, a test stand with electrolysis cell is being set-up to undertake test for industrial use of the technology. The project is carried out by Fraunhofer UMSICHT at its Sulzbach-Rosenberg site with the industrial partners DiaCCon GmbH (Fürth, www.diaccon.de) and Blue Eden CleanTech Inc. (Calgary, Canada, www.blueeden.ca) and is funded within the framework of the Central Innovation Program for Medium-Sized Enterprises (ZIM).

In the To-Syn-Fuel plant, sewage sludge is converted in Fraunhofers Thermo-catalytic reforming (TCR) system into valuable solid, liquid and gas fractions. The produced liquid bio-oil is refined to suitable fuels using the hydrogen from the produced TCR gas fraction. Hydrogen is separated from other species, like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane using one of project partner HyGear’s key technologies: Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA).

Out of more than 300 EU-funded biotech projects, the flexJET project for the production of sustainable aircraft fuels was selected as the one with the best chances of commercialization. The prize was awarded by the industry experts of the European KETBIO Biotech Transfer Initiative. Within the framework of flexJET, 1200 tons of sustainable aviation fuel are produced from used cooking oils. The hydrogen required for the hydrogenation of the oils comes from biogenic residues. It is produced using the TCR® process developed by Fraunhofer.

Since January 2017, the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology in Sulzbach-Rosenberg has been working on a waste management plan for the Emirate of Kuwait on behalf of the Kuwaiti environmental authority. As part of the air quality monitoring sub-project, a network of 100 online electronic noses, or eNOSES for short, was installed in odour-intensive areas with a focus on waste management facilities and fully commissioned in April 2020. The aim is to monitor odours online continuously over the long term. eNOSES are devices that perceive odours in a similar way to a human nose and can therefore detect anomalies.

Using the example of a brick plant, the »BioBrick« project shows how process heat and residues from biomass plants can be used for industrial brick production. In the project, a wood gasifier provides the heat (500 - 1000°C). The carbonaceous residues from the gasifier are used as porosification material in the brick. This cascade utilization reduces disposal costs, improves the product properties of the brick, saves fossil fuels and increases the cost efficiency of the process. The project consortium consists of plant manufacturers (Burkhardt GmbH) and users (Ziegelwerk Ernst GmbH & Co. KG). The project coordination and accompanying research is carried out by Fraunhofer UMSICHT.

More than 90 % of the manure produced by livestock farms in the EU is used for land fertilisation. However, this process is inefficient. The EU-funded FERTIMANURE project intends to develop, test and estimate advanced nutrient management strategies to produce competitive fertilisers that contribute to good yield. Their goal is to recycle valuable nutrients from livestock manure and produce bio-based fertilisers. FERTIMANURE will be deployed in five of the EU’s biggest livestock production countries, namely Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Outcomes should help promote this circular economy model for the EU agriculture sector.

The demonstrator is under construction - in the current EU project ToSynFuel the procurement and construction of the demonstration plant is in full swing after an intensive planning phase.

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