The high-power radiators of the Synlight solar simulator
At the DLR site in Jülich, the Institute of Future Fuels operates a globally unique facility: the Synlight solar simulator. Here, 149 medium-sized cinema projector lamps generate artificial sunlight that has a similar light spectrum to natural sunlight and can reach 10,000 times its intensity.
Short study: Future maritime fuels and their possible import concepts
Worldwide, about 90 per cent of international freight traffic is carried by ship. Most ships use heavy fuel oil and are responsible for about 3 per cent of the global share of CO₂ emissions. Decarbonization of shipping plays an important role in achieving a climate-neutral transport economy.
The Institute of Future Fuels contributes to making renewable resources available to replace fossil resources. We develop solutions for how hydrogen and fuels can be produced cost-effectively on an industrial scale from the raw materials water, CO2 and nitrogen using renewable energies.
Research for global CO2 neutrality
In order to achieve the goals of the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, Germany wants to gradually reduce its carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2045 and the European Union by 2050. The goal: complete greenhouse gas neutrality.
The three economic sectors (agriculture, industry and services), transport, shipping and aviation as well as private households are required to quickly find and implement alternatives to cover their energy needs. Those sectors, such as the chemical industry or aviation, that cannot be fully electrified are dependent on sufficient climate-neutral fuels being available at an acceptable cost. CO2-free fuels are also needed to transport goods over long distances by water and road. Industry, transport and aviation will therefore require large quantities of hydrogen, basic chemicals and kerosene produced using renewable energies in the future.
There is still a considerable need for research into the production methods for generating fuel from these raw materials. Our researchers are working on the following questions, among others:
Which processes fuelled by renewable energy can provide the necessary raw materials, especially carbon and nitrogen, efficiently and cost-effectively?
Which fuels can be produced with high efficiency from the source materials?
To what extent is it possible to reduce the energy requirements of manufacturing processes?
To find the answers, we develop and test substances, components and processes together with partners from industry and research – from laboratory scale to industrial dimensions.
Globally unique research infrastructure
Laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment are available in Jülich and Cologne for laboratory-scale tests. We mainly carry out tests with larger components in the High-Flux Solar Furnace at the DLR site in Cologne, in our Synlight® solar simulator and at the solar towers of the DLR Institute of Solar Research, which are located in Jülich.
One of the institute's research focuses is on solar thermochemical processes that utilise high temperatures from concentrated sunlight to drive chemical processes. They can produce solar fuels and their starting materials with very high efficiencies and low conversion losses. In established high-temperature processes such as metal, cement or fertiliser production, such processes can reduce or even replace the use of fossil fuels. By-products of these processes are CO2 and sulphur, which in turn can be used as starting materials for fuel production.
Other areas of work at the institute are the technological and socio-economic evaluation of different solar production processes and the development of solar photo-electrochemical processes for fuel production.
Our research and institute administration staff work at our headquarters in Jülich and at the Cologne-Porz site. The work on our research topics is spread across four research departments:
The institute was founded in 2020 as a component of the structural strengthening of the Rhenish lignite mining region in the course of the coal phase-out. Building on the scientific work, together with the energy expertise in the region, it is intended to contribute to the further development of ideas in companies.
