Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI

Project

CO2-neutral process heat generation

Transformation of industrial process heat supply towards CO2-neutral electricity-based technologies

The aim of the project is to evaluate the technical feasibility and economic efficiency of the conversion of the industrial plant park to CO2-neutral process heat generation. All branches of the basic industry will be considered and heat generation technologies based on electricity, hydrogen, synthetic gases or fuels will be investigated.

First, the state of the art will be assessed before the selected technologies for CO2-neutral process heat generation are technically and economically evaluated. Finally, a multi-criteria evaluation and an overarching roadmap are used to draw as comprehensive a picture as possible of the changeover.

 

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For far-reaching decarbonisation, the conversion of industrial process heat generation in the basic industries from fossil energy sources to secondary energy sources generated on the basis of renewable energies plays an important role. This includes, on the one hand, the direct use of renewable electricity (power to heat - PtH), but also the use of hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity, as well as methane gas produced from this hydrogen via methanisation (power to gas, power to liquid - PtG/PtL).

The generation of process heat in furnaces and steam generators is very application-specific and depends on the particular conditions and requirements of the different production processes. Although technical processes are conceivable for all areas of process heat generation that allow a conversion from fossil energy sources to (regenerative) PtH or PtG/PtL, these processes are currently not yet economically viable due to the comparatively high electricity prices, among other things, and are only used in areas of metal processing and for niche applications or are still in the technical development stage.

 

 

The following questions in particular will be addressed:

  • What is the current state of the art of process heat generation in the selected sectors?
  • Which PtH, PtG and PtL plants and processes are available, what is the development status, how is the substitution of fossil reference technologies to be technically assessed and what need for action exists?
  • How economical are the plants compared to the conventional reference plants?
  • How are the technologies to be evaluated in comparison to the fossil reference technology, taking into account ecological, economic and technical criteria?
  • How should the use of PtH, PtG/PtL for process heat generation be classified in an overall picture and strategy?

These questions are addressed on the basis of 13 industrial sectors from the metal and mineral industries as well as steam generation. A time perspective up to the year 2050 is taken.

 

Final report CO2-neutral process heat generation:

Policy brief Englisch: CO2 -neutral process heat using electrification and hydrogen

Policy brief German: CO2 -neutrale Prozesswärme durch Elektrifizierung und Einsatz von Wasserstoff

Duration

2019 until 2023

Clients

  • German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA)

Partners

  • Department for Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering, RWTH Aachen University