TotalEnergies, Sunfire and Fraunhofer launch e-CO2Met project in Germany

TotalEnergies SE has launched the e-CO2Met project at the Hydrogen Lab Leuna, in Germany, together with electrolyzer manufacturer Sunfire GmbH, the Fraunhofer Centre for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes (Fraunhofer CBP), and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (Fraunhofer IMWS). With the ambition to produce climate-neutral methanol from low-carbon hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide (CO2), this demonstration project will integrate the steps.

TotalEnergies (formerly Total) currently produces around 700,000 tonnes/year of methanol based on fossil raw materials at the TotalEnergies Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland in Leuna, Germany, making it the largest methanol producer in Europe. The e-CO2Met project is therefore an important step towards climate neutrality.

TotalEnergies R&D programme on Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) is developing approaches for the economically viable reuse of CO2 which is in line with the climate ambition of the company. e-CO2Met is the first pilot project for TotalEnergies to convert CO2 with renewable electric energy to methanol. Whilst this methanol can be considered itself an e-fuel, it can importantly be used as a platform in a further upgrading to products including sustainable aviation fuels, explained Marie-Noelle Semeria, Chief Technology Officer at TotalEnergies.

A core piece of e-CO2Met is the 1 MW high-temperature electrolyzer from the Dresden-based electrolysis company Sunfire. The system’s efficiency of more than 80% for producing green hydrogen from renewable electricity and water vapour is far higher than that of conventional electrolyzers. As a result, the system requires significantly less electricity to produce 1 kg of hydrogen.

In the next step, the green hydrogen obtained from electrolysis and highly concentrated CO2 from the refinery’s production processes will be converted into methanol.

For this purpose, the Fraunhofer CBP and TotalEnergies are planning a pilot plant in the new Fraunhofer Hydrogen Lab at the Leuna Chemical Park. The pilot plant is the first project of the Hy2Chem scaling platform funded by the state of Saxony-Anhalt through EFRE funds.

With the Hy2Chem platform, we can test the use of regeneratively produced hydrogen for the production of feedstock chemicals and fuels in sustainable synthesis processes on a large scale for the first time – even under the conditions of a fluctuating hydrogen stream, explained Dr Ulrike Junghans, group leader and coordinator of the project at Fraunhofer CBP.

A crucial step for implementing these processes on an industrial scale is pushing the development of electrolyzers and synthetic processes. For this purpose, Fraunhofer IMWS operates the Hydrogen Lab Leuna, a unique test infrastructure on an industrial scale, and provides extensive scientific support.

The Hydrogen Lab simulates different load profiles typical of renewable energy supply, maps their diurnal and inter-seasonal fluctuations, and thus provides important findings for the design and cost estimation of the systems under realistic conditions.

The Hydrogen Lab Leuna is the first large-scale test facility in Germany that is fully integrated with the infrastructure of the chemical industry, making it ideal for projects in the field of power- to-X processes. We can test industrial electrolyzers of any type at the systems level, further develop them together with our industry partners and at the same time gain valuable experience in supplying hydrogen to the pipeline system of our partner Linde – currently up to a 5 MW scale, said Dr Moritz Kühnel, coordinator of electrolysis research activities at Fraunhofer IMWS.

The development of a hydrogen economy is seen as an important step towards climate neutrality in Germany and Europe. Especially in connection with the use of green hydrogen as a chemical raw material, there is also considerable potential for shaping structural change.

Particularly at the industrial and chemical site of Leuna, a hub for green hydrogen and its derivatives can be created on the basis of many years of experience, existing infrastructure, and the interaction between innovative companies and research institutes.