Title
Climate-neutral fuels for freight and heavy-duty transport
Subtitle
MeFuSION research alliance paves the way for the efficient production of green methanol and its efficient use as a fuel
Location
Berlin/Ingolstadt/Freiberg/Stuttgart
Date
09.02.2023
Summary
Defossilisation of the mobility sector is a major challenge for Germany: For 2030, the gap in CO2 savings compared to plans is expected to be 40 million tonnes per year.
The MeFuSION research association wants to change that: Climate-neutral methanol - produced from carbon dioxide, water and renewable energies - is to be made usable for fuel cell-based freight and heavy-duty transport and thus make a contribution to climate-neutral mobility, in which batteries are practically impossible to use. In freight and heavy-duty transport in particular, the energy density in relation to the volume and weight of the energy carrier, as well as the refuelling time, are decisive in addition to the overall system (costs, infrastructure, flexibility). Here, the liquid chemical methanol has significant advantages over gaseous or battery-powered drives. In addition, fuel cell technology ensures a more efficient use of the energy stored in methanol for mobility compared to combustion, which reduces the effective power requirement per distance travelled. Another advantage is the improvement of exhaust gas and thus air quality, as neither unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides nor carbon monoxide and particulate matter are emitted.
The MeFuSION alliance consists of the companies CreativeQuantum, the fuel cell expert Gumpert Automobile as well as the research institutions DBI-GTI and the University of Stuttgart, Department of Holistic Balancing (GaBi). C1 Green Chemicals AG is an associated partner, which is responsible for the production of larger quantities of methanol using the new process. The MeFuSION project has been funded since 1.10.2022 and for three years with a total of 2.9 million euros as part of the overall concept of renewable fuels by the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport. The funding guideline for the development of renewable fuels is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by the project management organisations VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH and Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V..
Article
MeFuSION stands for Methanol Fuel-Cell Supplychain Investigation. The MeFuSION alliance sees the potential to substitute the existing internal combustion engine fleets in long-distance freight transport (trucks, shipping) with regenerative methanol fleets, thereby bringing about a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. The associated CO2 savings potential in Germany alone is immense and would thus make a significant sector contribution to achieving the national climate targets. In view of the urgency, this potential can be leveraged much faster than via alternative technologies.
The partners are pursuing the following key objectives:
• scaling up the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide(CO) using the reverse water gas shift (rWGS) process,
• scaling up the production of renewable methanol from carbon monoxide and hydrogen using the capture-and-hydrogenation approach (CHA),
• the more efficient separation of the regenerative methanol from the reaction solution,
• the qualification of the regenerative methanol for operation in fuel cell mobility, and
• the sustainability assessment of the overall system.
To this end, the innovation process already initiated in the E4MeWi project for a novel production process of regenerative methanol is to be scaled up, and the necessary technological maturity for a market entry in the segment of climate-friendly long-distance freight transport is to be achieved in the follow-up phase.
About DBI-GTI
DBI - Gastechnologisches Institut gGmbH Freiberg (DBI-GTI) is a unique research and development company in Europe, whose business fields are oriented towards the increasing requirements and opportunities in the energy industry as well as the continuous further development of its own competences. In an earlier project, DBI-GTI developed an rWGS plant for the demand-oriented on-site generation of carbon monoxide. Here, the feedstocks CO2 and hydrogen enable the substitution of fossil energy sources, thus making a further contribution to sustainability. In this project, this plant is to be scaled up by a factor of 25.
About CreativeQuantum
CreativeQuantum (CQ) specializes in performing quantum mechanics-based research and development for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Here, chemical and physical properties of substances and materials are calculated using quantum chemistry and chemical reactions and processes are elucidated in detail. The potential of the approach was demonstrated, among other things, with the computer-aided development of the completely new methanol production process. In this project, CQ will use quantum chemical simulations to focus on the prediction of gas-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibria, of complex mixtures.
About Gumpert Automobile
Roland Gumpert is moving forward with his visionary development. He consistently pursues the goal of bringing his Gumpert Power Cell to market. In 2018, for example, the "Nathalie" vehicle concept was presented to the public. Here, the concept of a methanol fuel cell was implemented in the passenger car. Compared with previous methanol-based vehicle concepts, such as Daimler's NeCar and NeBus project series, the project consortium uses a newly developed high-temperature fuel cell. The company's strategic focus is on the sustainable transformation of long-distance passenger and freight transport. In this project, Gumpert Automobile will investigate the novel methanol with regard to its specifications and, together with the project partners, ensure that the methanol is suitable for fuel cell use.
About GaBi
The competences of the University of Stuttgart, Department of Holistic Balancing (GaBi) include environmental, socio-economic as well as technical analysis and optimization from process to product. GaBi has already gained experience in the LCA of novel methanol production processes in a previous project and in this project those will be extended by the consideration of the new highly efficient methanol production process described above.
About C1
C1 Green Chemicals AG (C1) is a CleanTech startup founded in January 2022 to advance the defossilization of the chemical industry through disruptive innovation. In doing so, C1 covers all essential components from lab scale to pilot plant scale in order to be able to demonstrate the economic viability of a new process as quickly as possible. The newly founded company is supported among others by the former CEO of BASF Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, the former CEO of Linde AG Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle and the CEO of Siemens AG Jim Snabe. In this project C1 will be responsible for the scaling of the methanol production as an associated partner.
Contact
Dr. Alexander Janz: alexander.janz@creative-quantum.eu | +49 (0)30 9599 911 88;
Dr. Marek Checinski: marek@carbon.one | +49 (0)30 9599 911 81;
Grazian Eller: grazian.eller@gumpert.de | +49 (0)151 50777292;
Dr.-Ing. Stephan Anger: stephan.anger@dbi-gruppe.de | +49 (0)3731 4195 346;
Ehsan Nemati: ehsan.nemati@iabp.uni-stuttgart.de | +49 (0)711 970-3195
Images
More information about the project and photo material:
http://teaser.mefusion.de
