The industrial demand for electricity and process heat in Germany is immense and will not be able to be met without imports of sustainably produced energy sources. One such energy source of the future is hydrogen. However, there are still many unanswered questions on the way to a hydrogen economy. One of these is what the supply of green hydrogen can look like on a large scale. Solutions to the logistical challenges are being developed as part of AmmonVektor. The Fraunhofer flagship project is focusing on ammonia as an energy vector, which in its liquid form is technically easy to transport and does not require a large amount of energy. Another advantage is that ammonia already has a global transport infrastructure due to fertilizer production.

Researchers from the eight Fraunhofer Institutes ICT, IGB, IKTS, IML, IMM, IMW, ITWM and UMSICHT are looking at the entire value chain over a period of three years: “Reactors and catalysts for flexible, energy-efficient ammonia synthesis are being developed. We are also developing technologies for splitting ammonia and using it to generate electricity, heat and motion,” explains Dr. Andreas Menne from Fraunhofer UMSICHT, which is leading the project. Storage and logistics concepts are also being developed and business models designed. All with the aim of making hydrogen available on a decentralized basis in the future.

The entire value chain

AmmonVektor comprises a total of five sub-projects. The first sub-project deals with the development of processes that enable the operation of decentralized plants for load-flexible and demand-oriented ammonia synthesis. The second sub-project is investigating safe logistics alternatives and scenarios for the transportation and storage of ammonia. In sub-project three, the participants are researching decentralized hydrogen recovery - ammonia cracking. They are optimizing cracking catalysts in terms of their activity and stability for operation in various reactors. Sub-project number four focuses on the direct use of ammonia. It looks at two basic ways of generating electricity and heat: the conversion of ammonia in solid oxide fuel cell systems and engine combustion.Last but not least, sub-project five, in which the technologies previously optimized along the ammonia value chain are analysed in terms of their resilience and economic and ecological sustainability. Andreas Menne: “On this basis, we want to provide meaningful information about the potential for successful long-term implementation of the technologies on an industrial scale.”

Workshop: latest technologies and developments in the field of ammonia

But what exactly can this implementation look like in practice? On October 30, the workshop “Ammonia – THE supply chain for the hydrogen economy?!” at Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Oberhausen is dedicated to the topic of ammonia. Experts from science and industry will provide information on decentralized usage concepts from various perspectives. They will discuss specific applications of ammonia as a hydrogen storage medium and the Fraunhofer lighthouse project AmmonVektor, as well as the hurdles of a hydrogen economy and the regulatory framework. The workshop is aimed at interested parties from industry and science, energy suppliers, decentralized users of hydrogen technologies, transport and logistics companies, among others. Participants can contribute directly and are invited to discuss with the speakers. At the end of the event, there will be an opportunity to take a look behind the scenes at Fraunhofer UMSICHT as part of a tour of the institute.