Bilfinger has entered into a strategic partnership with Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies to make green hydrogen economically available on a large scale in Europe.
They plan to offer a turnkey, stationary Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) plant infrastructure based on Hydrogenious’ proprietary technology.
For the owners and operators of hydrogen storage and hydrogen release plants, the partners want to provide services from a single source in the areas of engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and maintenance.
Another common goal is the marketing of LOHC systems.
Bilfinger interim chief executive and chief financial officer Christina Johansson said: “As a long-term partner on an equal footing, we want to contribute to further advancing the energy transition.
“As a sustainable energy source, green hydrogen plays a crucial role for our customers and for European countries in achieving their climate goals.
“With the appropriate scaling, Hydrogenious’ LOHC technology can become a forward-looking solution for this.”
Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies founder and managing director Daniel Teichmann said: “With Bilfinger, we are gaining our partner of choice for the turnkey construction of large-scale LOHC systems with comprehensive expertise in engineering, assembly and maintenance.
“Our partnership is optimally set up for the market ramp-up in the hydrogen economy.
“By further improving the competitiveness of our technology through scale-up and standardization, all players in the future green hydrogen value chains will benefit.”
For the flexible transport of hydrogen, the Hydrogenious LOHC technology is both an efficient and safe solution, the partners said.
In the StoragePLANTS, the hydrogen is chemically bound to the LOHC material benzyltoluene, a thermal oil.
This carrier oil can be transported under ambient conditions in conventional logistics infrastructures comparable to the delivery of e.B crude oil or diesel.
Once the hydrogen consumer arrives, the hydrogen is released from the LOHC in a ReleasePLANT (in appropriate purity as required), while the carrier material is reused many hundreds of times in the cycle.
Thus, the Hydrogenious LOHC technology has significant advantages over other technologies for transporting hydrogen.
Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies shipped its first LOHC storage and release systems for commercial use to the US in 2018.
A demonstration plant was previously in operation at Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart.
Construction of an industrial-scale LOHC storage plant at CHEMPARK Dormagen is planned for 2023/2024 – at the same time the world’s largest plant of its kind (hydrogen storage in LOHC: approx. 1,800 tonnes per year).
For the construction of the plant, Bilfinger provides services in the areas of basic engineering, civil engineering and supports the application for permits in the chemical park.