Production of hydrogen systems: electrolyzers and fuel cells

Hydrogen technologies play a central role in achieving the German and European climate targets. The key elements are systems for converting renewable energies into hydrogen (electrolyzers) or reconverting hydrogen into electricity (fuel cells). However, the technologies required for the economical production of these key elements are still lacking. This is the impulse behind »Referenzfabrik.H2«, and the flagship projects H2Giga/ FRHY (electrolyzers) and H2GO (fuel cells) funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV).

The production of essential hydrogen systems such as electrolyzers and fuel cells will create an attractive business area for numerous companies of various sizes and sectors in the near future. In Referenzfabrik.H2, numerous Fraunhofer institutes have pooled their expertise to provide customers with a technological and economic perspective for industrialized solutions.

H2Giga collaborative project: FRHY – Reference factory for high-rate electrolyzer production

FRHY is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the hydrogen flagship project H2Giga. Besides the project coordinator Fraunhofer IWU Chemnitz, the Fraunhofer institutes IPT Aachen, IPA Stuttgart, ENAS Chemnitz, IMWS Halle/ S. and IWES Bremerhaven are involved. FRHY is designed as a flexible, multidirectional, technology-neutral solution for the large-scale production of electrolyzers. Within this framework, novel production and testing modules are being developed. At the same time, the corresponding digital models are created and linked in a central virtual architecture. This not only creates new production solutions, but also a technology toolkit that enables far-reaching evaluations. Individual processes can be compared in terms of production qualities, scalability and costs. Production variants through to entire value chains can be assigned to the process steps in the reference architecture and calculated. This makes it possible to compare and evaluate strategies for parallelization, automation and vertical integration. As a result, not only investment costs but also return-on-investment can be calculated and validated as a function of the planned production volume. This forms the continuous basis for highrate, reproducible production to further improve the quality and service life of electrolyzers and ensure that they can be dynamically and flexibly adapted to changing conditions

H2GO – National Action Plan for Fuel Cell Production

Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) show significant promise as a commercially viable drive system for long-distance transportation in the future. From a technological point of view, fuel cells offer a similar output per volume and weight, and similar ranges and refueling times to conventional fossil-fuel-based drive technologies. This means that haulage companies can retain the flexibility they are accustomed to in their truck operations. Compared to other emission-free drive systems, FCEVs can be economically and ecologically competitive, especially in heavy goods transportation – assuming a successful market ramp-up. Imported hydrogen can reduce the burden on the domestic electricity market, which would otherwise be constrained to produce larger quantities of hydrogen from renewable energies.

The National Action Plan for Fuel Cell Production H2GO, funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), supports the establishment of the German fuel cell industry through production technology research, development and industrial implementation. This is intended to ensure national technological sovereignty in the long term, and to enhance the export capability of German truck manufacturers and the necessary mechanical and plant engineering.

At the heart of this initiative are 19 Fraunhofer institutes based in 9 federal states which, in collaboration with their local networks, draw on their research expertise and infrastructures to develop new manufacturing solutions within regional technology hubs. These will be integrated into the four technology alliances for proton exchange membranes (R2MEA), bipolar plates (R2HP, HP2BPP) and industrial dismantling and transfer to recycling and reuse (ST2P), and enhanced through targeted state and federal initiatives. The overarching NEXUS network: ViR enables synergetic integration in a virtual reference architecture for fuel cell production based on the digital images of the developed production solutions.

Due to its advanced technical maturity, the high-rate process chain gives new, previously uninvolved industries the opportunity to expand their business field through fuel cell production. Besides component manufacturers and system integrators, the mechanical and plant engineering sector therefore also benefits from the innovative production solutions resulting from the National Action Plan. The H2GO developments also offer new economic prospects for other companies with specialized processes, as well as moldmakers, material suppliers, engineering, measurement and control technology. The approach is neutral and independent of specific companies. In particular, the concept of the Action Plan makes it possible to explore innovative future production concepts that are pre-competitive and go far beyond the technologies currently available. The Action Plan promotes comprehensive knowledge and technology transfer, and also makes the newly created infrastructure available to various industrial partners for direct cooperation, sampling, pilot production or spin-offs, and for the further development of both production processes and fuel cells as a product. Rather than merely subsidizing individual consortia, this enhances the entire value-creation ecosystem.

Referenzfabrik.H2 – Value-creation community for hydrogen system production

H2GO and FRHY are the technological basis of the Referenzfabrik. H2. The factory aims to become the pacesetter for the industrial mass production of electrolyzers and fuel cells. The industrial and research sectors consider themselves as a value-creation community working together on the rapid ramp-up of efficient, scalable production processes for these hydrogen systems. In the Referenzfabrik.H2, industrial companies contribute their expertise to the value chain and develop it further through collaboration with other companies. By joining forces with the research sector they can achieve faster progress and the production of cost-effective systems for mass application.

The Referenzfabrik.H2 comprises a technology construction kit, technology services and a technology mall.

The production of electrolyzers and fuel cells for hydrogen systems is technologically very diverse. Besides various production methods, and besides the different products (alkaline, electron and proton exchange, high temperature), additional framework conditions such as geometry, service life, production quantities and costs influence the selection of processes and the need for specific process steps.

The technology construction kit comprises various production technology modules in terms of process variants, equipment and pilot plants that are needed to produce hydrogen systems. It has been developed for different hydrogen system components and incorporates several levels, each representing the individual production and testing steps. Possible process variants and the investigated parameters are positioned within this structure. The aim is to enable a comparison of different process variants. Technological, economic and sustainability aspects are taken into account. A process variant can also be selected for each level or production step and then combined to form a sub-process chain. These in turn can be linked across components to form value-creating networks.

The technological basis is supplied by the participating Fraunhofer institutes. Results from pre-competitive Fraunhofer projects and funded research projects are made available for transparent knowledge and technology transfer. The technology services were created specifically for companies interested in integrating their expertise and infrastructure into hydrogen system production. The thematic areas of orientation, design, development, automation, industrialization, digitalization, quality assurance and labeling are addressed.

The technology mall was developed to support the transfer of technology and knowledge. The main stack components are included and the modules required for their production are specified. Possible processes are listed for each production module and described with reference to the plant technology available within the value-creation community. Individual processes can be combined into process chains with specific target corridors (e.g. high production quantities, high quality). The process chain is represented across all components based on the system developments. The service modules are represented and structured in a similar way.