Chemical production in Germany: Soda Manufacturing with Double Climate Bonus

Clean process: bipolar electrodialysis

04-Oct-2024 - Fraunhofer researchers and their partners have developed an innovative and eco-friendly method of producing soda, essential for a wide range of industries, in the Green Soda project. The process is based on bipolar electrodialysis of brine. Ion exchange processes and the addition of carbon ...

Bio-concrete and biogenic construction materials with cyanobacteria

Transitioning to climate-friendly construction

02-Jul-2024 - Fraunhofer researchers have developed a method of creating biogenic construction materials based on cyanobacteria. The bacteria multiply in a nutrient solution, driven by photosynthesis. When aggregates and fillers such as sand, basalt, or renewable raw materials are added, rock-like solid ...

40-million-euro sustainable kerosene research project CARE-O-SENE receives funding

German-South African Consortium starts working to optimise the production of sustainable kerosene

13-Oct-2022 - The international research project CARE-O-SENE (Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) was granted 30 million euros in funding by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Additionally, the industrial consortium partners contribute 10 million euros. The aim of the project ...

Green adhesives made from whey

New process for obtaining valuable ethyl acetate

02-Sep-2022 - In collaboration with TU Dresden, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a process for obtaining valuable, high-purity ethyl acetate from whey. This can be used, for example, to produce environmentally friendly adhesives, thereby replacing conventional ethyl acetate extracted from fossil-based raw ...

How food scraps will power airplanes in the future

World's first plant to produce fuel from biogas put into operation

29-Jul-2022 - In order to convert food scraps and other biological waste back into usable materials, the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS has joined forces with industry and research partners to build a plant in Thallwitz near Leipzig that is unique worldwide. This produces ...

Powering ships with hydrogen from methanol

The principle of generating hydrogen from methanol can also be applied in a range of scenarios in the chemical industry

05-Jul-2022 - Shipping is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases, and this is leading shipbuilders and operators on a search for environmentally friendly alternative propulsion systems. Researchers at Fraunhofer have joined forces with partners to develop the HyMethShip concept, in which ...

How glass learns to illuminate itself and create heat

Among other things, this can be used to produce electrically conductive and self-heating glass microreactors for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries

31-Mar-2022 - Glass objects which glow in the dark, glass containers that heat up and cool down, or glass control knobs and switches that eliminate viruses and bacteria by themselves – all this seems to completely contradict our everyday experience of what glass can do. And yet, it is now within reach. To ...

Ceramic technologies for highly efficient power-to-X processes

15-Oct-2019 - The speedy reduction of worldwide CO2 emissions is one of the most pressing and challenging tasks of our time. Alongside the strategy of avoiding CO2 emissions altogether, there are a number of technologies which transform unavoidable CO2 into valuable products. But these so-called power-to-X ...

New membrane reactors supply "green" raw materials for chemical industry

15-Jun-2018 - In the future, closed carbon loops play an important role to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions and ensure safe and cost-effective access to carbon sources as the basis for products of the chemical industry. In order to increase the efficiency and thus profitability of the synthesis ...

Industrial product and component labeling for extreme process conditions

31-Mar-2016 - Researchers at Fraunhofer IKTS developed a robust solution for the individual labeling of components and products. It withstands extreme environmental influences, can be applied within seconds and read-out reliably. Therefore, the new development is suitable for the integration into industrial ...