Chemical Industry

The chemical industry is Germany's third most important industry in terms of sales. Not only the energetic defossilization of processes is becoming challenging, but also the material side is facing a change. Until now, a large part of the material basis in chemistry has been based on fossils. Chemical products are widely used in our lives: for example in agriculture (fertilizers), in transport (both in the automotive industry and as fuels such as diesel) or in medicine. It is therefore impossible to imagine our quality of life without them.

The energy and material source for the chemical industry must therefore be replaced. Electrification plays the most important role from an energy perspective. In processes, such as high-temperature processes, which cannot be electrified, hydrogen and its derivatives offer the solution. From a material point of view, there are possibilities to make the raw material source sustainable. In part, raw materials of biogenic origin can cover the demand, but this alternative is limited by acreage. Furthermore, work is being done to optimize the efficiency of recycling in order to eventually achieve a circular economy. Recycling can be implemented for plastic use, but is not possible for consumer products such as fuels. With the atomic components, carbon and hydrogen, and sufficient energy, hydrocarbons can be produced by a bottom-up process. Methane or methanol, for example, can be produced under high pressures and temperatures and with the appropriate reactants. This forms the basic building block for hydrocarbons. CO2 serves as a carbon source for the methane molecule. To keep costs low, CO2 capture should be downstream of processes that cannot be decarbonized, e.g. cement production or waste incineration.

The transformation is still moving cautiously. HYPOS would like to accelerate this by developing synergies with players along the entire value chain as well as with other companies and industries. The ramp-up of production, distribution and use of green hydrogen cannot happen in isolation, but must be accelerated in parallel to be successful. HYPOS sees its responsibility in uniting and coordinating these areas and would like to create a functioning hydrogen economy as quickly as possible in close cooperation with you.