Fraunhofer Lighthouse Project "Electricity as a Raw Material"

The goal: power to chemicals

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft views the energy transition and the cost-effective excess electrical power it will increasingly generate as an opportunity for electricity-intensive manufacturing. The goal of the Fraunhofer Lighthouse Project “Electricity as a Raw Material” is to develop new electrochemical processes in order to utilize excess electrical power for manufacturing chemicals. For subsequent pilot production and system integration, it means the processes must be modularized and distributed, and electrochemical production at existing Fraunhofer Group facilities made more adaptive. New technologies and scientific expertise are being developed for future “Power-to-Chemicals" industrial processes that will subsequently be marketed as part of long-established value-added chains. This should lay the scientific and technological foundations for manufacturing products using an increasingly CO₂-free mix of electrical power sources.

Synthesis pathways – hydrogen peroxide or CO₂ conversion

The technological focus of the Fraunhofer Lighthouse Project is to develop new electrochemical processes, concentrating on two synthesis pathways.

• One pathway is oriented toward electrochemical manufacture of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) from oxygen and hydrogen, with prototype demonstrations of the process in a distributed facility. H₂O₂ is employed as an environmentally friendly oxidant for diverse applications in the chemical, paper, and textile industries. Responsibility for this sub-project lies with the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT.
• The second pathway’s goal is to electrochemically or electrocatalytically convert CO₂ for manufacturing fundamental hydrocarbon compounds like alkenes and alcohols, demonstrating the technology at the pilot-plant scale. Development of a demonstration setup for one-step electrosynthesis of ethylene from CO₂ by means of gas diffusion electrodes is being led by Fraunhofer IGB. Another setup for one-step electrosynthesis of C₁-C₄ alcohols from CO₂ using high-pressure techniques is being led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT, while a third setup using two-step activation of CO₂ by H₂ for synthesizing C₄-C₂₀ alcohols is being led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS.

All of these development projects are being paralleled by process simulations (at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM) as well as by joint development of electrochemical components and process analysis systems by Fraunhofer ISC, IST, and IAP. A work package for system analysis and sustainability considerations carried out by Fraunhofer IGB and UMSICHT rounds out the project.

Sub-project: Electrochemical generation of ethylene

Fraunhofer IGB is coordinating the sub-project entitled “Development of a new one-step electrochemical process with which alkenes, mainly ethylene, will be electrochemically produced from CO₂ and water". The primary innovation in this sub-project consists of producing ethylene or other alkenes through direct reduction of CO₂ in just a one-step process. The goalpost for the process is to demonstrate ethylene production on a scale of one kilogram per day.

A total of four departments at Fraunhofer IGB are working together on this project. The BioCat group in Straubing is looking after the development of the catalysts, optimizing reaction of the electrodes, and characterizing the materials. The research focus of the Department of Interfacial Engineering and Materials Science is developing and characterizing charge-carrying materials (membranes and gas diffusion electrodes) as well as characterizing and optimizing interface phenomena at triple-point phase changes. The Department of Physical Process Technology is looking after the electrode configuration, system integration and setup, and the testing and optimizing of the pilot plant. The necessary measurement, monitoring, and control engineering is being contributed by the Department of Environmental Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering.

The development is being carried out in close cooperation with the parallel work packages for process simulation (Fraunhofer ITWM) and component development & process analysis (ISC, IST and IAP).