Press and Media

The Center for Sustainable Fuels (ZENK) at the Fraunhofer Institutes IGB in Straubing and UMSICHT in Sulzbach-Rosenberg aims to develop new production routes for climate-neutral fuels based on CO₂, biomass and renewable electricity. The research work is being funded by the Free State of Bavaria with 11.9 million euros over a period of four years.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT presented various research projects from the field of energy technology in two lectures and a poster presentation.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT participated in this year's Biochar-Summit in Helsingborg, which was organized by European Biochar Industry Consortium EBI, the Nordic Biochar Network and the City of Helsingborg. Dr. rer. nat. Sophie Schönfeld from Fraunhofer UMSICHT gave a lecture on the topic of »From Waste to use: application potentials of biochars from different residues ob-tained by thermo-catalytic reforming (TCR®)«.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT is researching ways of using plant charcoal obtained from TCR® pyrolysis processes for biomass. In the InterPyro project, biochar is used for sustainable soil improvement and a CO2-neutral process chain is created.

The Waste Management Atlas of Kuwait shows some of the main results of the eMISK-Waste project.

The project »Hydrogen for Bremen's Industrial Transformation« (hyBit) is a large-scale hydrogen research project funded by the BMBF with almost 30 million. The focus is on establishing hydrogen centers in northern Germany, so-called hydrogen hubs. In the project cluster »Design of Industrial Transformation (Steelworks and Industry)«, Fraunhofer UMSICHT is responsible for the conceptual design of heat management at the industrial port of Bremen.

A pyrolysis plant developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT was put into operation at the RWE Innovation Center in Niederaussem. It uses biogenic residues and waste materials, in particular mixtures of various feedstocks such as sewage sludge or fermentation residues, to produce high-quality hydrocarbons. These can then be processed into low-CO2 fuels or other chemical products.

At the beginning of the year, the project »SynergyFuels« started under the coordination of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), in which Fraunhofer UMSICHT is involved with the application of thermochemical conversion processes for residual materials. The alliance of research institutions and companies wants to reduce the ecological footprint of the transport sector. To this end, the participants are developing a refinery concept to produce renewable fuels on a ton scale for a variety of applications. To this end, the researchers are combining the production of e-fuels with that of advanced biofuels.

During a visit to the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria's Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Roland Weigert, presented a funding notification for 500,000 euros. The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs is thus supporting the development of a concept for the planned establishment of a Fraunhofer Circonomy Hub for Circular Carbon Technologies (CCT).

We thank you for the good cooperation in the past year and for the trust you have placed in us.