The BMBF has provided about 30 million euros for the large-scale hydrogen research project Hydrogen for Bremen’s Industrial Transformation (hyBit). The creation of so-called hydrogen hubs, or centres for hydrogen, in northern Germany is the main focus.
The conceptual design of thermal management at the industrial port of Bremen is the responsibility of Fraunhofer UMSICHT, which is part of the project cluster Design of Industrial Transformation (Steel Mill and Industry).
The growth of a hydrogen economy necessitates tighter coordination amongst numerous industries, including power, heating, and transportation. The hyBit project is conducting interdisciplinary research and preparation for the required changes. The purpose is to conduct a small-scale test of the hydrogen economy for the entire nation of Germany. The implementation of regional hydrogen hubs can be accomplished through focused processes of technological, economic, ecological, legal, and social transformation, according to five project clusters. Whether synergistic and trade-off findings apply to a macroregional hydrogen economy. And how to employ hydrogen, which will be in short supply for the foreseeable future, effectively in the transformation.
Infrastructure concepts for the sector coupling of electricity, hydrogen, and heat are to be developed in the cluster Design of Industrial Transformation. Here, the entire picture of the Arcelor Mittal Bremen steel factory, the industrial port, and the metropolitan area are the main points of interest. Future thermal management is being developed by the scientists of Fraunhofer UMSICHT. They examine the consequences of different technical solutions, such as the usage of thermal high-temperature storage systems for process heat, by analysing heat sources and sinks, simulating transformation paths, and analysing heat sources and sinks.
The goal is to investigate the aforementioned changes holistically to achieve the most optimal state of overall heat management during and at the time of the steel production process, according to Silas Heim, project manager at Fraunhofer UMSICHT: “The successive transformation of the steel mill and the associated gradual changes to the plant components of the steel production process have far-reaching effects on the existing thermal management of the entire industrial port.
The BMBF has financed the large-scale hydrogen research project Hydrogen for Bremen’s Industrial Transformation (hyBit), which is comprised of a project consortium with 19 partners from both science and industry. The creation of so-called hydrogen hubs, or centres for hydrogen, in northern Germany is the main focus. Production, processing, delivery, storage, and final consumption of hydrogen are all included in a hydrogen hub.
A wide variety of infrastructures, including a port, steelworks, freight transport hub, power plants, sewage treatment plants, and good highway connections, make the Bremen region particularly ideal. The location plans to build capacities up to three digits MW because it needs big electrolysis capacities. A hydrogen hub is being constructed in Bremen’s industrial port as part of the hyBit project. More than half of the area’s CO2 emissions currently originate from the nearby steel factory. The state of Bremen’s climate goals can be significantly advanced by switching to clean hydrogen.
The project also seeks to transform Bremen’s entire industrial area into a hydrogen centre and decarbonize it.