Kontrolle aktive Forschungsprojekte im TUG ONLINE

In the INGE project the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology is developing innovative and resource-efficient manufacturing processes for anion exchange membrane electrolyzers (AEMEL), in cooperation with the TU Graz spin-off. Efficiency and lifetime are improved through innovations in electrode catalyst materials as well as in cell and stack design.

In order to limit the consequences of global warming, it is imperative to drastically reduce global CO2 emissions. Negative emission technologies (NET) based on bioenergy can make an immense contribution to this. For this reason, a new concept for a coupled NET technology using a multifuel biochar furnace for flexible biochar and heat generation from forest and agricultural residues and CO2 capture from the flue gas by calcium looping is being developed (TRL2) and experimentally investigated at component level (TRL3) as part of the Dec-NET project. A consortium of three scientific and two industrial partners is involved in the project. The aim is to develop an overall concept for decentralised systems in the medium power range (0.5-3 MW). On the one hand, a demand- and seasonally optimised operation of the furnace with the production of heat and biochar should be possible, on the other hand, biogenic residues should be utilised, thus laying the basis for an economically and ecologically feasible operation of the plant. The separation/storage of carbon is realised by the biochar and the CO2 separation from the exhaust gas in the calcium looping process. An important milestone in this project is also the development of the calcium looping reactor, which is to be realised for the first time as a fixed-bed reactor and can therefore now also be used economically for decentralised biomass plants. For the flexible production of biochar and heat, an existing lab-scale multifuel biomass furnace is to be enhanced with a flexible pyrolysis gasifier mode. In experimental research campaigns, the system components combustion and calcium looping reactor will initially be analysed individually in detail. Finally, a coupling of the two components is to be realised and tested on a laboratory scale. A techno-economic analysis will provide insights into the possible applications and economic operation of the overall concept as well as the potential utilisation of the biochar and CO2 products. Dec-NET as a decentralised CO2-negative plant technology based on the valorisation of biogenic residues for the flexible provision of heat, biochar and CO2 as well as concept studies for their storage and/or use will make an important contribution to achieving the climate targets regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions. The project makes it possible to expand Austria's globally leading role in bioenergy and make it fit for the future with the development of NET technologies as well as the production of biochar and bio-CO2.

The Jeffree project aims to remove perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) and at the same time increase their efficiency. PFAS are persistent, toxic and accumulate in water, soil and organisms. The project will develop PFAS-free membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) that surpass the efficiency and durability of today's PEM fuel cells and enable a new era of clean and efficient energy solutions. By eliminating PFAS in PEM fuel cells, the project significantly reduces the potential environmental impact of this innovative energy system. Jeffree is researching LipIonomer as a new alternative PFAS-free ionomer to replace conventional PFAS-based ionomers. PFAS-free catalyst layers are optimised with spray and slot die coatings. By improving the interface between the membrane and the catalyst layer, the performance, efficiency and service life of the membrane electrode assembly are further increased. The degradation behaviour of PFAS-free MEAs is modelled on the basis of experimental data.

In the Coat&Roll project, a unique roll-to-roll infrastructure for the production research of future technologies is being established at TU Graz. The scientifically proven project partners enable the regional establishment of the production of technologies such as fuel cells, electrolysis cells, photovoltaic cells, battery cells and sensors. The research infrastructure in the Coat&Roll project enables the investigation of complex manufacturing procedures for the development of new technologies and material combinations in the roll-to-roll process with minimal use of substrates and chemicals through printing, coating and laminating. The consortium uses this platform to conduct interdisciplinary research in a variety of scientific fields. These include the production of electrochemical components in thin films such as membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells with new corrosion-resistant materials, membranes made of bio-based materials, components for batteries and supercapacitors with innovative nanoporous carbon materials, the use of slot die coating for organic semiconductors, the investigation of the continuous production of homogeneous large-area perovskite crystallizations for PV modules and research into the continuous production of structured materials as high-performance and versatile platforms for application sensors. New methods for quality assurance and control are being developed, including the X-ray-based adaptation of an online monitoring technique and the development of new technologies such as the use of hydrogen curtains for crack detection and segmented electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for the homogeneous production of membrane electrode units. As a multidisciplinary platform consisting of seven institutes of TU Graz and project partners, including Joanneum Research, the Coat&Roll project enables the exchange of knowledge and the development of expertise through joint research at the highest level via interfaces to other networks and platforms. Building on this, application-orientated research will be carried out on production technologies in the future, which in turn can be implemented in innovative products by regional industry in the next step.

Use of the laboratory equipment in the CEET fuel cell laboratory

Unite!Energy builds on the coordination effort of academic institutions of the Unite! Alliance, composed of eight of the most prestigious universities in Europe, together with seven companies and three institutions that closely cooperate in the context of a doctoral training programme. The focus of the proposal is the use of hydrogen to store excess electrical energy generated off-peak from a renewable energy plant and its use for the generation of electricity at peak demand, that is, chemical energy storage. Hydrogen is produced through electrolysis and photoelectrolysis, stored on site and used to generate electricity in a fuel cell. Our aim is to increase the costcompetitiveness of chemical energy storage using hydrogen by reducing the end-to-end costs of electricity produced from renewable sources, and the costs of electrolysis, storage and fuel cell technologies. At the same time, the objective is to increase efficiency and minimise the environmental impact. The ultimate objective of Unite!Energy is to prepare a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial, innovative researchers who can develop a successful career in the integration of hydrogen in the energy field. Researchers will be exposed to scientific and technological excellence, in highly reputed European technological universities. The programme will be developed in an attractive institutional environment, shared by more than 200 k students in Europe, with interdisciplinary research options, from more fundamental science to research in hybrid academic-industrial state-of-the-art facilities. Quality assurance procedures will be implemented following those of the participating universities whose long relationship assures strong international networking among universities, research centres and industries (both large and SME) and sound training on transferable skills, which has become one of the pillars of education and innovation in partner academic institutions.

The H2GreenFUTURE project addresses the challenges in the process of developing hydrogen technologies for the transition to a carbon neutral society in the area of Slovenia and Austria. The aim is to lay the foundations for a cross-border innovation ecosystem for the development of hydrogen technologies by addressing and involving relevant stakeholders from science, industry, society and government. A pilot project will identify legal, safety and technological barriers to the development of hydrogen technologies in the cross-border area. In addition, the development and simulation of a hydrogen sandbox will enable the establishment of a long-term legal and regulatory framework. This framework will provide the basis for promoting investment in hydrogen technologies and market penetration of the corresponding applications. Public awareness and knowledge transfer will be strengthened through the development of a hydrogen technologies database that will complement the existing B2B platform of the H2GreenTech Hydrogen Centre. The project activities are designed as a continuation or implementation of key actions developed within the H2GreenTech project (Interreg SI-AT). It is based on three essential pillars for a sustainable breakthrough of hydrogen technologies in the cross-border area: research and innovation, knowledge and competences, and the development and appropriate adaptation of legislation to promote forward-looking innovations. The project paves the way for continuous cross-border cooperation between all partners.

The project AniGen includes the development of the next generation of Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) Electrolysis Cells and the combination of these cells into a short stack with three to five cells. The focus will be laid on improving efficiency and increasing lifetime. The characterization of the newly developed cells and stack will include the development of new testing methods concerning durability tests. Additionally, the newly developed stack will be integrated into an optimised system layout including the enhancement of the operation strategy for different application scenarios like grid connection.

Electronic-grade sulfuric acid is an essential base chemical for the production of semiconductors, printed circuit boards and, in smaller quantities, also for pharmaceuticals. The high purity requirements cause high manufacturing costs and also high disposal costs, since economic processes for large-scale recycling of high-purity sulfuric acid are currently not available. The key criteria for evaluating new processes for sulfuric acid recycling include: Purity, energy requirements and initial cost of the plant. The presented process implements the core components of a nitrogen-reduced acid decomposition and an electrochemical cell to convert SO2 and H2O to H2SO4 and H2. The electrochemical cell produces high purity sulfuric acid as the main product and the carbon-free 'Ecofuel' hydrogen as a by-product. With the exception of a Pt catalyst, the electrochemical cell consists of non-metallic components and operates at low operating temperatures. This circumvents a key problem of conventional processes, in which impurities are produced by corrosion products of metallic surfaces with SO2, SO3 or the sulfuric acid. The acid decomposition is based on a hydrogen burner which is operated with 90% oxygen and a sulfuric acid atomization. The development and integration of a new type of nitrogen-reduced sulfuric acid decomposition process will lead to an intensification of the process. The energy input required for this is provided by hydrogen, and the emissions are thus CO2-free. The size of the plant as well as the energy demand of fans and compressors is reduced by a factor of 5-6 due to the process intensification. A further goal of this research project is the experimental proof of concept and subsequently the patenting of this type of acid decomposition and its components. The new process to be researched will enable the recycling of electronic-grade sulfuric acid by exploiting synergies of nitrogen-reduced acid decomposition and the electrochemical cell. The development and use of the electrochemical SO2 depolarized cell in combination with the sulfuric acid plant results in the added benefit that hydrogen can be produced with only one-third of the energy required for the classical electrolysis of water. By reducing energy requirements and acquisition costs, this lays the foundation for an ecologic and economic cycle.

This cooperation project will create the basis for new methods and tools for the development of fuel cell systems. Although fuel cells are already used successfully in vehicles, the service life of the cells in vehicles, among other things, is the subject of ongoing investigations. Dynamic loads and transient processes that typically occur in-vehicle applications can cause the fuel cell to age faster than constant operation. This usually means a permanent reduction of the maximum power due to local damage to the cells. In order to be able to consider performance losses due to damage at an early stage during development, methods for highly dynamic control of fuel cells are to be developed in this project. These methods can be applied in fuel cell systems and on modern stack test rigs as well. In order to identify transient operating conditions that deliberately cause or prevent damage, a comprehensive model-based analysis method will be developed. The use of 3D-CFD models with high resolutions allows a detailed investigation of local damage mechanisms based on physical and chemical principles. Simplified models are to be derived from these high-resolution models with the aim of operating them in real-time. This is the prerequisite to enable the implementation of innovative online monitoring and diagnostic methods and to gain insight into the fuel cell processes. A second focus of the project is the development of suitable innovative test methods that enable the identification and subsequent avoidance of damage-relevant state trajectories of the fuel cell. With the help of the developed models, dynamic test cycles are to be generated, which allow specific conclusions to be drawn about the performance and damage or ageing processes of the fuel cell. To this end, new methods of model-based test design are being developed, which provide for appropriate excitation of the stack on the test rig. A third objective of the project is the defined control of a fuel cell system during transient phases. The thermodynamic states that occur, such as temperatures and pressures, must be realized quickly and reliably. For this purpose, suitable methods of non-linear multivariable control are used, which should enable a decoupling of these variables with maximum achievable dynamics. In addition to controlling the dynamic test cycles, such control methods also enable the precise thermodynamic emulation of balance-of-plant components on the stack test rig. This allows the behaviour of the stack in an overall system to be tested virtually, which enables additional quality improvement and time savings in the development of fuel cell systems. This project creates the basis and methods to improve the service life and efficiency of fuel cells specifically. By means of the developed test procedures, the development time of fuel cell systems should also be significantly reduced.

In the future, fuel cells with hydrogen as fuel will be used for environmentally friendly and efficient electricity generation. The Reformer Steam Iron Cycle (RESC) developed at TU Graz enables the production of high-purity hydrogen in small plants directly at the consumer by using a chemical looping process. In this process, the oxygen carrier iron oxide is reduced to iron in the reduction step by releasing oxygen into the biogas supplied, thus oxidising the biogas to carbon dioxide and water vapour. In the oxidation step, the iron is oxidised again by the oxygen contained in the supplied water vapour and highly pure hydrogen is produced as a product gas for use in fuel cells. The research work in the project focuses on increasing the lifetime and stability of the iron oxide and other oxygen carrier materials developed for the process. The oxygen carrier materials are repeatedly reduced and oxidised at temperatures of 600-1000°C. Due to the phase transformations and sintering, the performance of the material for hydrogen production continuously decreases. In the project, both new materials and the influence of innovative manufacturing methods on the service life of the oxygen carrier materials are being investigated. These include, for example, electron- and ion-conducting high-temperature ceramics, which are used as a stable support structure for the oxygen carrier. The newly developed oxygen carriers are tested and evaluated in the laboratory under conditions close to the application and can then finally be used in plants for hydrogen production from biogas.

Climate change urges us to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Austria, the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions are the energy and industry (44 %) and mobility (30 %) sectors, 26 % are residual sectors. A sustainable solution is offered by the complementary use of renewable hydrogen and electricity. Renewable hydrogen can be used to decarbonise industry, energy and mobility and can decouple energy production and usage in location and time. But vision is one thing and overcome of the remaining scientific-technological challenges is quite another. HyTechonomy aims for research of the key hydrogen technologies: electrolysers, storage systems and fuel cells. In addition, identification of optimisation potentials by sector coupling of energy, industry and mobility as well as the ideal combination of the key technologies are targeted. Electrolysers and fuel cells have a need for research regarding reducing costs, reducing degradation, increasing efficiency while improving functionalities. Degradation requires a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and respective accelerated stress testing to identify countermeasures. Regarding efficiency, there is a lack of understanding for optimising these multiparameter systems from research up to real operation. Renewable energy systems require longterm, large-scale and safe energy storage. Hydrogen storage and transport with sufficient gravimetric and volumetric energy density pose technical and economic challenges. Especially, the storage of hydrogen in chemical bonds, solids or liquids, is still in early stage. Strategies for systemic implementation of hydrogen in all sectors are not yet sufficiently available.