Carbon cycle economy
Key technologies
Gasification
In thermochemical conversion by gasification, carbon carriers are converted into a gas containing H2 and CO at temperatures above 700 °C using a gasification agent. This synthesis gas is a basic chemical in the chemical industry and the starting point for a wide range of products. In addition to hydrogen and synthetic fuels, it can be used to produce the platform chemicals alcohols, paraffins, olefins and ammonia. The gasification process, which is usually carried out at high pressures for these applications, was originally developed primarily for the conversion of fossil fuels and used worldwide, but is attracting increasing interest for the material utilisation of waste due to its high flexibility.
Pyrolysis
In pyrolysis, carbon-containing waste is thermally decomposed into combustible gases, oils and solid residues at temperatures of approx. 400 - 600 °C in the absence of air. This requires the addition of heat and can be supported by the use of catalysts. It is an established thermochemical process for the production of oil and wax as well as waste treatment for the recovery of metal and fibres from composite materials. The use of waste-based pyrolysis oil in refinery processes as a substitute for naphtha is a favoured method for chemical recycling, particularly of used plastics.
Research topics
Chemical recycling
Chemical recycling - also known as feedstock recycling - is based on the conversion of carbon-containing waste into chemical building blocks in order to produce new chemical products. This turns waste into resources in the sense of a consistent circular economy and carbon is incorporated into new products instead of being emitted as CO2, as is the case with waste incineration. In this context, we deal with the primary thermochemical conversion of various waste and residual materials through pyrolysis and gasification, including peripheral processes, as well as the technical, socio-ecological and economic evaluation of the entire process chain from feedstock to product. One focus is on the integration of electricity and hydrogen from renewable sources.
Sustainable hydrogen production
Hydrogen plays a central role in the realisation of a climate-neutral economy. The provision of hydrogen itself must be climate-neutral and therefore sustainable. This applies in particular to the hydrogen source and the provision of energy for the production process. Our research focusses on hydrogen production via electrothermal or thermochemical conversion processes. This includes the pyrolytic splitting of methane, which produces so-called "turquoise" hydrogen, and the gasification or reforming of biogenic waste and residual materials with subsequent maximisation of the hydrogen yield.
CO2-Neutral mobility
CO₂-neutral synthetic liquid fuels are a climate-friendly addition to electric and hydrogen mobility. Not only can they directly replace fuels from fossil sources, they can also be mixed with them in any ratio (drop-in capability). This enables a continuous transition to these synthetic fuels, including the utilisation of the existing infrastructure for distribution and sales. A key area of application in the future will be in areas where electric and hydrogen mobility are reaching their limits. This applies in particular to the aircraft fleet, for which liquid fuels will continue to be indispensable in the near future. The focus of our research work is the synthesisation of "green" fuels based on methanol from laboratory to pilot scale, including catalyst and process chain evaluation.
Research projects
ArcAMAT
Advanced materials engineering for arc plasma-assisted production of hydrogen-containing syngas for clean energy utilisation
Challenge: In the context of plasma-assisted gasification of waste, especially with water vapour plasma for hydrogen production, high electrode erosion rates lead to uneconomical plant operating times.
Our project: Development of advanced electrode materials with high mechanical and chemical resistance to reduce the erosion of the electrodes under the influence of the arc and reactive gases. Furthermore, new electrode geometries with a monolithic three-dimensional structure are being developed and manufactured using additive processes in order to achieve better heat transfer during water cooling of the electrodes and to minimise thermally induced degradation of the electrodes.
Partners: AGH University of Krakow, DTU Technical University of Denmark, DBI Virtuhcon GmbH
Funding: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Sächsische Aufbaubank (Reference Number: project11426, funding code: 100728552)
Term: 09/2024 - 08/2027
DeCarTrans
Demonstrating a Circular Carbon Economy in Transport along the Value Chain
Challenge: Achieving greenhouse gas neutrality and the associated restructuring of the transport sector are currently major challenges at both national and international levels. In addition to CO₂ emissionfree electric and hydrogen mobility, climate-friendly propulsion options include synthetic liquid fuels, which, when considered holistically, emit less CO₂ than petroleum-based fuels and have the potential to enable nearly climate-neutral mobility.
Our project: In the collaborative research project DeCarTrans, which brings together project partners from research, the automotive and plant engineering sectors, as well as the mineral oil industry, the research team at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, together with its long-standing cooperation partner CAC Engineering GmbH, will produce several hundred cubic meters of synthetic gasoline by 2026. This fuel is generated from bio-methanol in the large-scale gasoline synthesis pilot plant in Freiberg. In May 2023, the first 15,000 liters of green gasoline produced in the project were made available to the project partners; two subsequent production campaigns by the end of June 2024 yielded an additional 125,000 liters. With production planned over a three-year period, the project aims to demonstrate the long-term operational capability of the technology and show that renewable synthetic fuels can make a significant contribution to achieving climate targets.
Partners: CAC Engineering GmbH; Coryton Advanced Fuels Deutschland GmbH; FEV Europe GmbH; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH; Lother GmbH; other associated partners
Funding: Federal Ministry of Transport (BMDV), FKZ 16RK14004D
Duration: January 2023 – December 2026 (4 years)
EwOPro
Development of the olefins-to-jetfuel process as a highly innovative stage in the production of paraffin from renewable methanol
Challenge: Thanks to their specific properties, liquid fuels are also of great importance in many areas of the energy sector in the long term. While electricity is a preferred alternative as an energy source, especially for cars and light lorries in cities, low-GHG liquid fuels are needed in particular for heavy goods transport over long distances, aviation and maritime transport, as well as for petrochemical precursors, lubricants and other products. The EwOPro project focuses on the highly innovative olefins-to-jetfuel process as the centrepiece of the methanol-to-jetfuel route.
Our project: The main objective of EwOPro is the detailed investigation of the process for converting olefins to paraffins or oligomers in the corresponding chain. oligomers in the corresponding chain length and branching within the methanol-to-jetfuel process, which is relevant for the target product fraction paraffin and the co-products high-octane/aromatic-free petrol and diesel/fuel oil. In particular, the focus is on knowledge-based catalyst development and optimisation of the process technology parameters of the individual process stages methanol-to-olefins (MtO), olefin oligomerisation (OtJ) and hydrogenation, as well as their combination.
At the Chair of Energy Process Engineering, the STF+ pilot plant, which has been upgraded for operation in MtO mode, is being expanded to include scaled-up OtJ process stages. The oligomerisate produced during the subsequent experimental investigations for process optimisation will be made available to the project partners for hydrogenation, fractionation and fuel tests.
Partners: CAC Engineering GmbH, DBI Gas- und Umwelttechnik GmbH, Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS (funded project partners) and other associated project partners
Funding: Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), FKZ 03EI3083C
Term: 03/2023 - 08/2026
InnoTeam: Bio2H2
Production and Storage of Hydrogen from Biogenic Residues and Waste Materials
The project InnoTeam Bio2H2 aims to develop a new technology for the production and storage of hydrogen from biogenic residues and waste materials. We are working on a thermochemical conversion route that enables the generation of hydrogen from sewage sludge and other biogenic residues and wastes.
Challenge:
The main challenge is to develop an efficient and cost-effective method for hydrogen production from biogenic residues and waste materials. The resulting syngas must then be used for indirect hydrogen storage in iron-based storage systems. This requires close collaboration across different disciplines such as chemistry, thermodynamics, and materials science.
Our Project:
This interdisciplinary research project focuses on developing a thermochemical conversion route to produce hydrogen-rich syngas from biogenic residues and waste materials. We are working on a process that allows the gasification of sewage sludge and other biogenic residues and the subsequent use of the produced syngas for indirect hydrogen storage in iron-based systems. Additional valuable materials such as phosphorus are also to be recovered.
The project includes the identification of a suitable thermochemical conversion route, the development of a process for gas cleaning and syngas utilization, the advancement of an iron-based storage system, as well as experiments and simulations to optimize process efficiency and cost.
Through close collaboration across disciplines and with our project partners, we aim to develop an efficient and market-ready process for the production and storage of hydrogen from biogenic residues and waste materials.
Partners: DBI-Virtuhcon GmbH, AMBARtec AG, MiViA GmbH
Funding: ESF Plus / SAB, 100756653
Duration: 02/2025 – 01/2027
PhosCOOR
Thermochemical phosphorus recovery under highly reducing conditions with consideration of the CO2 balance
Challenge: From 2029, many sewage treatment plant operators will be obliged to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge and make it available to the economic cycle again. In order not to emit the carbon contained as CO2 but to return it to the carbon cycle, incineration of the sewage sludge is out of the question.
Our project: Basic investigations for the combined recovery of phosphorus and carbon from sewage sludge using allothermal gasification. To this end, the necessary conditions for phosphorus release into the gas phase are identified and an economically viable phosphorus recovery concept is developed, which is verified with laboratory tests and gasification trials on a pilot plant scale.
Partners: RWE, TAF, PreZero Pyral GmbH, DBI Virtuhcon
Funding: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (03EE5086)
Term: 09/2021 - 06/2025
REF4FU
Renewable fuels from green refineries of the future
Challenge: To date, renewable fuels for road, air and sea transport cannot be produced selectively via a single process route. They are usually produced in different proportions together with other by-products.
Our project: The REF4FU project aims to develop, validate and evaluate sustainable refinery concepts that can be used to meet the future demand for renewable liquid fuels. Renewable methanol, Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbons and pyrolysis oils will be used to produce, test and evaluate the fuels that are currently used in fleets and will be required in the foreseeable future using scalable technologies. The research work at the Chair of Energy Process Engineering will also focus on the production of larger quantities of oligomerisate for the project partners, for which liquid gas dosing and product separation will be retrofitted at the pilot plant.
Partners: DBFZ Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum gGmbH, German Aerospace Centre, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, CAC Engineering GmbH, EDL Anlagenbau GmbH, INERATEC GmbH (funded project partners) and other associated project partners
Funding: Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV), FKZ 16RK24001E
Term: 12/2022 - 11/2025
Archive
- ZIK Virtuhcon
- Erzgebirge - new landscape, new opportunities
- Methanol-to-Gasoline - MTG (sub-project B3 of the TU BAF in the joint research project "C3-Mobility: Closed Carbon Cycle-Mobility: Climate-neutral fuels for the transport of the future"), funding by BMWK (funding code 03EIV021A), project partners BMW, CAC, FEV, Ford, Opel, Shell, VW and others. a., Duration 09/2018-12/2021
- Construction and operation of an STF+ test facility for the production of petrol from renewable methanol and investigations into the fuel quality of future synthetic fuels (TUBAF sub-project in the Kopernikus project P2X: "Research, validation and implementation of 'Power-to-X' concepts"), funded by BMBF (funding code 03SFK2M1), Audi, CAC, OMV, Shell and VW (third-party funders), duration: 09/2016-08/2019
- Start-up financing KKT (Fraunhofer): PDF download | Find out more
- CCS on Ships: PDF download
- PC2Chem (Fraunhofer): PDF download
- VeRa: PDF download
- Waste4Future (Fraunhofer): PDF download
