Germany

The article presents the methodology and applicable data for the generation of life cycle inventory for conventional and alternative processes for base chemical production by process simulation. Addressed base chemicals include lower olefins BTX aromatics methanol ammonia and hydrogen. Assessed processes include conventional chemical production processes from naphtha LPG natural gas and heavy fuel oil; feedstock recycling technologies via gasification and pyrolysis of refuse derived fuel; and power-to-X technologies from hydrogen and CO2. Further process variations with additional hydrogen input are covered. Flowsheet simulation in Aspen Plus is applied to generate datasets with conclusive mass and energy balance under uniform modelling and assessment conditions with available validation data. Process inventory data is generated with no regard to the development stage of the respective technology but applicable process data with high technology maturity is prioritized for model validation. The generated inventory data can be applied for life cycle assessments. Further the presented modelling and balancing framework can be applied for inventory data generation of similar processes to ensure comparability in life cycle inventory data.

Electrifying energy-intensive processes is currently intensively explored to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through renewable electricity. Electrification is particularly challenging if fossil resources are not only used for energy supply but also as feedstock. Copper production is such an energy-intensive process consuming large quantities of fossil fuels both as reducing agent and as energy supply.

Here we explore the techno-economic potential of Power-to-Hydrogen to decarbonize copper production. To determine the minimal cost of an on-site retrofit with Power-to-Hydrogen technology we formulate and solve a mixed-integer linear program for the integrated system. Under current techno-economic parameters for Germany the resulting direct CO₂ abatement cost is 201 EUR/t CO₂-eq for Power-to-Hydrogen in copper production. On-site utilization of the electrolysis by-product oxygen has a substantial economic benefit. While the abatement cost vastly exceeds current European emission certificate prices a sensitivity analysis shows that projected future developments in Power-to-Hydrogen technologies can greatly reduce the direct CO₂ abatement cost to 54 EUR/t CO₂-eq. An analysis of the total GHG emissions shows that decarbonization through Power-to-Hydrogen reduces the global GHG emissions only if the emission factor of the electricity supply lies below 160 g CO2-eq/kWhel.

The results suggest that decarbonization of copper production by Power-to-Hydrogen could become economically and environmentally beneficial over the next decades due to cheaper and more efficient Power-to-Hydrogen technology rising GHG emission certificate prices and further decarbonization of the electricity supply.

The H₂ internal combustion engine (ICE) is a key technology for complete decarbonization of the transport sector. To match or exceed the power density of conventional combustion engines H₂ direct injection (DI) is essential. Therefore new injector concepts that meet the requirements of a H₂ operation have to be developed. The macroscopic free stream behavior of H2 released from an innovative fluidic oscillating nozzle is investigated and compared with that of a conventional multi-hole nozzle. This work consists of H₂ flow measurements and injection tests in a constant volume chamber using the Schlieren method and is accompanied by a LES simulation. The results show that an oscillating H₂ free stream has a higher penetration velocity than the individual jets of a multi-hole nozzle. This behavior can be used to inject H₂ far into the combustion chamber in the vertical direction while the piston is still near bottom dead center. As soon as the oscillation of the H₂ free stream starts the spray angle increases and therefore H2 is also distributed in the horizontal direction. In this phase of the injection process spray angles comparable to those of a multi-hole nozzle are achieved. This behavior has a positive effect on H2 homogenization which is desirable for the combustion process.

In this paper the implications of the use of hydrogen on product yield and conversion efficiency as well as on economic performance of a hydrogen enhanced Biomass-to-Liquid (BtL) process are analyzed. A process concept for the synthesis of fuel (gasoline and LPG) from biomass-derived synthesis gas via Methanol-to-Gasoline (MtG) route with utilization of carbon dioxide from gasification by feeding additional hydrogen is developed and modeled in Aspen Plus. The modeled process produces 0.36 kg fuel per kg dry straw. Additionally 99 MW electrical power are recovered from purge and off gases from fuel synthesis in CCGT process covering the electricity consumption of fuel synthesis and synthesis gas generation. The hydrogen enhanced BtL procces reaches a combined chemical and electrical efficiency of 48.2% and overall carbon efficiency of 69.5%. The total product costs (TPC) sum up to 3.24 €/kg fuel. Raw materials (hydrogen and straw) make up the largest fraction of TPC with a total share of 75%. The hydrogen enhanced BtL process shows increased chemical energy and carbon efficiencies and thus higher product yields. However economic analysis shows that the process is unprofitable under current conditions due to high costs for hydrogen provision.

Using electricity for heating can contribute to decarbonization and provide flexibility to integrate variable renewable energy. We analyze the case of electric storage heaters in German 2030 scenarios with an open-source electricity sector model. We find that flexible electric heaters generally increase the use of generation technologies with low variable costs which are not necessarily renewables. Yet making customary night-time storage heaters temporally more flexible offers only moderate benefits because renewable availability during daytime is limited in the heating season. Respective investment costs accordingly have to be very low in order to realize total system cost benefits. As storage heaters feature only short-term heat storage they also cannot reconcile the seasonal mismatch of heat demand in winter and high renewable availability in summer. Future research should evaluate the benefits of longer-term heat storage.

This paper analyses some possible means by which renewable power could be integrated into the steel manufacturing process with techniques such as blast furnace gas recirculation (BF-GR) furnaces that utilize carbon capture a higher share of electrical arc furnaces (EAFs) and the use of direct reduced iron with hydrogen as reduction agent (H-DR). It is demonstrated that these processes could lead to less dependence on—and ultimately complete independence from—coal. This opens the possibility of providing the steel industry with power and heat by coupling to renewable power generation (sector coupling). In this context it is shown using the example of Germany that with these technologies reductions of 47–95% of CO2 emissions against 1990 levels and 27–95% of primary energy demand against 2008 can be achieved through the integration of 12–274 TWh of renewable electrical power into the steel industry. Thereby a substantial contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and fuel demand could be made (although it would fall short of realizing the German government’s target of a 50% reduction in power consumption by 2050).

Achieving climate-neutrality requires considerable investment in energy storage systems (ESS) to integrate variable renewable energy sources into the grid. However investments into ESS are often unprofitable in particular for grid-scale battery storage and green hydrogen technologies prompting many actors to call for policy intervention. This study investigates investor-specific risk-return preferences for ESS investment and derives policy recommendations. Insights are drawn from 1605 experimental investment-related decisions obtained from 42 high-level institutional investors and utility representatives. Results reveal that both investor groups view revenue stacking as key to making ESS investment viable. While the expected return on investment is the most important project characteristic risk-return preferences for other features diverge between groups. Institutional investors appear more open to exploring new technological ventures (20% of utility respondents would not consider making investments into solar photovoltaic-hydrogen) whereas utilities seem to prefer greenfield projects (23% of surveyed institutional investors rejected such projects). Interestingly both groups show strong aversion towards energy market price risk. Institutional investors require a premium of 6.87 percentage points and utilities 5.54 percentage points for moving from a position of fully hedged against market price risk to a scenario where only 20% of revenue is fixed underlining the need for policy support.

Iron aluminides have been among the most studied intermetallics since the 1930s when their excellent oxidation resistance was first noticed. Their low cost of production low density high strength-to-weight ratios good wear resistance ease of fabrication and resistance to high temperature oxidation and sulfurization make them very attractive as a substitute for routine stainless steel in industrial applications. Furthermore iron aluminides allow for the conservation of less accessible and expensive elements such as nickel and molybdenum. These advantages have led to the consideration of many applications such as brake disks for windmills and trucks filtration systems in refineries and fossil power plants transfer rolls for hot-rolled steel strips and ethylene crackers and air deflectors for burning high-sulfur coal. A wide application for iron aluminides in industry strictly depends on the fundamental understanding of the influence of (i) alloy composition; (ii) microstructure; and (iii) number (type) of defects on the thermo-mechanical properties. Additionally environmental degradation of the alloys consisting of hydrogen embrittlement anodic or cathodic dissolution localized corrosion and oxidation resistance in different environments should be well known. Recently some progress in the development of new micro- and nano-mechanical testing methods in addition to the fabrication techniques of micro- and nano-scaled samples has enabled scientists to resolve more clearly the effects of alloying elements environmental items and crystal structure on the deformation behavior of alloys. In this paper we will review the extensive work which has been done during the last decades to address each of the points mentioned above.

Greenhouse gas emissions need to be drastically reduced to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by climate change and to lead to a transformation of the European energy system. A model landscape consisting of four final energy consumption sector models with high spatial (NUTS-3) and temporal (hourly) resolution and the multi-energy system model ISAaR is extended and applied to investigate the transformation pathway of the European energy sector in the deep emission mitigation scenario solidEU. The solidEU scenario describes not only the techno-economic but also the socio-political contexts and it includes the EU27 + UK Norway and Switzerland. The scenario analysis shows that volatile renewable energy sources (vRES) dominate the energy system in 2050. In addition the share of flexible sector coupling technologies increases to balance electricity generation from vRES. Seasonal differences are balanced by hydrogen storage with a seasonal storage profile. The deployment rates of vRES in solidEU show that a fast profound energy transition is necessary to achieve European climate protection goals.

As 2018 marks the ten-year anniversary of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) it is inspiring to look back over the many accomplishments of the past decade. The projects described in these pages illustrate the approach of continuous learning exemplified by the FCH JU’s projects from creating low-carbon and sustainable solutions enabling market entry for new products developing ‘next generation’ products based on previous research to opening new markets for European expertise in fuel cell and hydrogen (FCH) technology.<br/>The FCH JU’s achievements are due in part to its multi-stakeholder structure: a public-private partnership between industry research and the European Commission. Industry-led research has pioneered new developments in FCH technology and brought many of them to the cusp of commercialisation. Market uptake from public authorities major companies and citizens alike has boosted confidence in these clean technologies establishing hydrogen as a cornerstone of Europe’s energy transition.<br/>DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS FOR A GREENER WORLD<br/>Citizens are at the heart of Europe’s Energy Union a strategy aimed at providing clean secure and affordable energy for all. For some years now and as a signatory to the Paris Agreement in 2015 the EU has been actively targeting reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.