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Hydrogen Technology Centre (HTC)

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In the HTC, we work in the thematic fields of photoelectrochemical hydrogen production and hydrogen storage from fundamental research to development of prototype systems.

The HTC was established to handle the topics of photoelectrochemical hydrogen production and hydrogen storage in a holistic approach from fundamental research to development of prototype systems.
We want to demonstrate materials and technologies up to a “proof of concept” on a scale accepted by industry and end users (such as facilities for hydrogen production on the square metre scale, hydrogen storage on a kilogram scale) and thus pave the way for industrial applications. Scientific questions related to technological scale-up from the laboratory to the application realm here are to be resolved.
In photoelectrochemical hydrogen production, the efficiency achieved with small samples in the laboratory so far could not be reproduced on a technical scale. Systematic studies with larger electrode surfaces are therefore of uttermost importance.

ZOZ CM100

Industrial high energy ball mill of the HTC in ist outstation in Olpe, Siegerland, Germany (100 l milling vial, manufacturer: ZOZ GmbH, Olpe, Type CM100)

In hydrogen storage, this applies to investigating the correlation between production parameters and properties of storage materials. We were able to identify the energy input during milling as a key parameter on a laboratory scale. Other parameters, however, could also play a role in larger mills. With larger material quantities in storage tanks, the heat production and the necessity of heat transfer during loading and unloading of hydrogen increases proportionally. The heat transfer therefore plays an important role and must be taken more into consideration when designing larger storage systems.

Our objectives at the future Hereon Hydrogen Technology Centre are:

  • Scale-up of production processes to an industrial relevant scale for future applications
  • Investigating scientific questions regarding the influence of the process parameters on material properties in the synthesis and processing of larger material quantities
  • Cost-effective production of materials and economic systems manufacturing
  • Construction of demonstrators on an application-relevant scale
  • Integration of the developed systems with other components of hydrogen technology: a.) hydrogen production, processing and storage; b.) hydrogen storage and use; for example, in fuel cells
  • Investigation of scientific questions of the behavior of the materials within the overall system as well as in system integration
  • Life-cycle analysis of the technologies
  • Techno-economical assessment and system optimization with respect to specific applications
Learn more: Cost-effective hydrogen production: Department “Sustainable Energy Technology“ Learn more: Efficient hydrogen storage: Department „Nanotechnologie“