Project start: H2 Campus Hüttenheim

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is supporting ZBT in establishing a research and development site for large-scale plants and mobility research in an industrial context

For 20 years, the science location of North Rhine-Westphalia has been home to the Duisburg Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center (ZBT), a leading European institute for application-oriented research in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell technology. Due to the increase in staff and expanded research activities in recent years, the ZBT’s current capacities as a technology-oriented institute for hydrogen and fuel cell technology are already exhausted in many areas of the research infrastructure. This affects existing office capacities, test bench capacities, especially for larger electrical outputs and hydrogen consumption, as well as the technical and IT infrastructure.

The further development of the ZBT must take place at an additional location so as not to be restricted by the existing limitations at the current site. The hydrogen campus to be developed in Hüttenheim as part of this project offers ideal location synergies for the establishment of the ZBT and further complementary developments. The hydrogen campus is to be built on a fully developed industrial site. Halls and office space are already available in principle, but need to be further upgraded for long-term, extensive use. Various media supply facilities are also available for conducting tests, but the specific test infrastructure still needs to be developed. The site is directly connected to waterways and railways and can be quickly reached by car, train and plane for local and long-distance travel. The campus is to be built on the premises of Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann GmbH (HKM), a steel company with around 3,000 employees and a production capacity of approximately 5 million tonnes of crude steel per year.

The aim of the project proposed here is to prepare the development of the site through planning measures, organisational development, marketing and the development of key scientific issues in the areas of standardisation, quality assurance and training and further education in order to ensure a high level of transfer of activities. The data required to take these next steps will be compiled.

The Technology and Innovation Centre for Hydrogen (TIW) is also to be located at the site – further information is available at www.zbt.de/tiw.

Further projects

OptiCold – Safe cold start for fuel cells in mobile applications

OptiCold develops materials, cell architectures and operating strategies to enable PEM fuel cells to start safely and without damage even at temperatures as low as -25 °C. The aim is to provide robust, durable and practical solutions, especially for mobile heavy-duty applications.

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FLOWMEX – More efficient fuel cells through systematically improved water management

Researchers want to significantly improve water management in fuel cells. Using model-based and experimental methods, they are developing a simulation tool that realistically depicts the transport of liquid water in gas diffusion layers and flow field channels.

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Interface – Microstructured Bipolar Plates for Greater Power Density and Service Life

Using innovative laser-based microstructuring, this research project optimises the interface between the bipolar plate and the gas diffusion layer in fuel cells. This improves water flow and reduces electrical contact resistance, resulting in a performance increase of up to 30% and a significantly longer service life.

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