New, innovative, sustainable and marketable products, services and processes are needed for a fundamental, targeted and climate-neutral transformation of the energy, industry and building sectors. To promote their development, the ‘Energie.IN.NRW’ innovation competition supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research and educational institutions, chambers, associations and foundations, as well as municipal companies and institutions. Large companies can also receive funding if they collaborate with SMEs.
The “Energie.IN.NRW” innovation competition is aimed in particular at projects with the following three main topics:
- Cross-sector energy system of the future
- Climate-neutral energy solutions and processes for industry
- Climate-friendly buildings, circular building materials and decentralised sector coupling
In the third round of submissions for Energie.IN.NRW, 62 preliminary applications were received from 210 interested parties. After thorough evaluation by an independent review committee, 19 submissions from a total of 68 project partners have now been invited to submit a full application.
And these three project outlines involving ZBT were deemed ‘eligible for application’:
NH3-HRS
An ammonia-based on-site cracker module is to be developed and demonstrated for the production of high-purity hydrogen for hydrogen filling stations. All components are to be scalable and thus adaptable to any filling station size with minimal effort. The use of ammonia will eliminate the otherwise costly and complex transport of hydrogen to the filling station and the storage of compressed or liquefied hydrogen at the filling station.
- ZBT – The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center, Duisburg
- Kueppers Solutions, Dortmund
HYDRA-FREE
A novel direct membrane deposition membrane electrode assembly (DMD-MEA) in hydraulically pressed stacks without fluorine components is to be developed. This technology could help medium-sized companies in North Rhine-Westphalia and the EU to implement innovative solutions for forward-looking technologies in the field of anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEM-WE). Such technology offers enormous economic potential as it reduces manufacturing costs and increases performance.
- ZBT – The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center, Duisburg
- University of Duisburg-Essen (EMPI), Duisburg
- Hydrogenea, Gelsenkirchen
- ProPuls, Gelsenkirchen
PEMELYon ROLL
For proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEM-WE), combined, adaptable processes for the production of a roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturable high-performance catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) are to be developed, validated and verified. Inline analytics based on AI-supported camera technology will be integrated into the manufacturing process for precise quality assurance and a significant reduction in production waste.
- ZBT – The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Center, Duisburg
- Laufenberg, Krefeld
- University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg
- XAPTEC, Gladbeck
With the innovation competition ‘Industrie.IN.NRW – Innovative Materials and Intelligent Production’ of the ERDF/JTF programme NRW 2021-2027, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Union are supporting the transition to a climate-neutral industry. The aim is to bring technological developments in the fields of materials development, production technology and product innovations into practice more quickly.
The Energie.IN.NRW innovation competition is being led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIKE) in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW) and the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MUNV).
The call for applications does not constitute a commitment to provide funding.
