Hydrogen technologies

Hydrogen is considered to be the energy carrier of the 21st century and offers high flexibility in many fields of application. Hydrogen has the highest theoretical energy density, can be generated from electricity, biomass or fossil resources, and can be converted into a wide range of products. As a result, this energy carrier has the potential to interconnect the various sectors of the economy. To use hydrogen sustainably, it must be generated from “green” electricity or sustainable biomass (e.g. residual and waste materials). This calls for electrolysers and bioenergy plants on a gigawatt scale. Accordingly, the fuel cell is a key technology for converting chemical energy back into electricity, e.g. for mobile applications. A sufficient number of low-cost systems can only be supplied in the future if the core components and all associated parts are manufactured automatically.

To transfer the latest research findings to industrial applications, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA conducts wide-ranging research and provides a broad spectrum of services.

In addition to topics related to production, the Energy Business Unit offers the following services in connection with hydrogen:

• Preparation of studies with a focus on special technologies or the integration of hydrogen into existing systems.
• Simulation and modeling of hydrogen systems in industrial and energy plants as well as digitally mapping hydrogen production processes and products.
• Conceptual design of decentralized energy supply systems based on hydrogen.
• Techno-economic and ecological evaluation of hydrogen production plants (electrolysis or biohydrogen) and their integration into decentralized supply systems
• Quality control in fuel cell or electrolyzer manufacture and mapping production parameters to electrochemical stack performance.