Flagship project

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. The disadvantage is that importing it by ship and decentralized distribution and storage are complex and therefore expensive. In addition, hydrogen transportation is not yet technologically mature. Solutions to these logistical challenges are being developed as part of AMMONVEKTOR. The Fraunhofer lighthouse project is focusing on ammonia as an energy vector, which in its liquid form can be transported easily and without great energy expenditure. Another advantage is that ammonia already has a global transport infrastructure due to fertilizer production.

Over the next three years, Fraunhofer researchers will be looking at the entire value chain: reactors and catalysts for flexible, energy-efficient ammonia synthesis as well as technologies for splitting ammonia and using it to generate electricity, heat and motion. Storage and logistics concepts are also being created and business models developed. All with the aim of making hydrogen available on a decentralized basis in the future.