Local Supply Through Decentralized Cracking Technology
»Our decentralized cracking technology can close this supply gap both efficiently and with zero emissions for required quantities of between 100 kilograms and 10 metric tons of hydrogen per day,« Kolb explains. »In the AMMONPAKTOR project which received funding from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, we teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM to develop a compact ammonia cracker that achieves an efficiency of 90 percent during the reconversion process through our innovative plate heat exchanger technology and integrated exhaust gas combustion from the pressure swing adsorption used for cleaning, in comparison to 70 percent for conventional technologies.«
The energy needed to heat the reactor is generated directly in the cracking reactor with the help of the exhaust gas streams, so no additional fuel or electricity is required for cracking purposes. The AMMONPAKTOR reactor is also about 90 percent smaller than conventional technology. This is especially important for mobile and space-constrained applications. The use of exhaust gas also means the technology has a smaller carbon footprint than electrically heated reactor concepts. »Aside from the system’s internal exhaust gas utilization, the innovative plate heat exchanger from Fraunhofer IMM, which is directly coated with a catalyst, makes all the difference,« Kolb says.
»Instead of the conventional method of generating the heat required for cracking in a pipe system heated from the outside at about 900 degrees Celsius, which requires much energy, our technology generates the heat right where it is needed, so our system has much better heat transfer. And that works out to huge energy savings.« A finished prototype at Fraunhofer IMM’s location in Mainz already enables hydrogen production of about 75 kg per day, about the same as the daily output from a 50-kilowatt fuel cell. “That volume alone would be enough to supply a small hydrogen filling station, for example,” Kolb notes.A finished prototype at Fraunhofer IMM’s location in Mainz already enables hydrogen production of about 75 kg per day, about the same as the daily output from a 50-kilowatt fuel cell. “That volume alone would be enough to supply a small hydrogen filling station, for example,” Kolb notes.
The next development goal, for now, is scaling up to daily production of up to 10 metric tons, including as part of the EU’s five-year maritime project GAMMA and the Fraunhofer flagship project AmmonVektor, which is exploring the entire green ammonia value chain to make hydrogen available on a decentralized basis and at as low cost as possible. This three-year project, headed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT, has been under way since early 2024.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM