Press releases, interviews and news

In order to achieve its goal of decarbonizing raw material flows, the chemical industries must cover their carbon requirements from sustainable sources. The direct capture of CO2 from the air has hardly played a role so far – mainly due to the high investment and operating costs. The partners in the "Air2Chem" project want to change this: They are developing an integrated process that combines the "Direct Air Capture" process with electrolytic conversion of the green carbonate-containing absorber solution into platform raw materials for the chemical industries.

In the Syschemiq project, 21 organizations from all over Europe have been working for around 1.5 years to improve plastic recycling in the trilateral region of Belgium, the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia. Dr. Anna Kerps, Sustainability and Participation Department at Fraunhofer UMSICHT, explains in an interview how systems for the collection, sorting and pre-treatment of plastic can be optimized, how awareness of the issue should be raised in society and why life cycle assessments are so important for design for recycling.

The construction industry and the operation of buildings are responsible for 36% of global energy consumption and 39% of energy-related CO₂ emissions. At the same time, the housing market is tight, especially in large cities, and there is a lack of affordable and climate-neutral housing. Sustainable and affordable building materials are therefore more in demand than ever. This is where the "ZEROES" project comes in: The project partners Betonwerk Büscher, Rohstoffbauwerke and project management Fraunhofer UMSICHT are pursuing the goal of reducing CO₂ emissions in the production of mineral building materials. A central approach is the use of carbonates as binders or fillers in concrete and sand-lime bricks. The project partners met on July 3, 2024 for the official kick-off at Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Oberhausen.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pose a risk to humans and the environment due to their high stability and ubiquitous distribution. With the treatment technology PerfluorAd®, Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Cornelsen Umwelttechnologie GmbH have developed a market-ready process that removes PFAS from aqueous media cost-effectively and effectively. The current NRW project Perfluor.Dat is pursuing comprehensive data-based process optimization, among other things, in order to be able to adapt the process to the requirements of international markets.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Bett and Prof. Dr. Christian Doetsch will take office as the new dual leadership of the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance on July 1, 2024. Both are institute directors at their home institutes, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Envi-ronmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen. Prof. Dr. Hans-Martin Henning, who heads Fraunhofer ISE together with Prof. Andreas Bett, did not stand for re-election after seven successful years in office.

The year 2024 is characterised by a substantial reduction in federal funding for project research. Energy research is particularly affected by this. A 30 % reduction in available funding for new projects is looming, compared to the previous year. Against this backdrop, the Fraunhofer-Group »Energy Technologies and Climate Protection« is warning of a massive decline in German industry's ability to innovate in technologies for the energy transition. Nine institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft are organised in the group, which play a key role in driving forward application-oriented energy research.

Under the motto "Water reuse for a sustainable future", Fraunhofer UMSICHT is presenting various technologies for water recycling and wastewater treatment at this year's IFAT in Munich. The focus is on the improved separation of pollutants and greater resource and energy efficiency.

A new EU regulation* provides for a ban on small individual packaging made from disposable plastic for coffee creamers. These consist of a polystyrene base film and an aluminum lid, both of which are usually incinerated after use. An alternative in the hospitality industry, e.g. in bakeries, cafés or in the travel sector, are reusable solutions. Fraunhofer UMSICHT carried out a life cycle assessment for the company frischli Milchwerke to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of reusable solutions such as ceramic jugs or thermos flasks compared to individual packaging.

By making cooling supply systems more flexible, CO₂ emissions can be reduced by 22 to 39 percent and electricity procurement costs by 35 to 54 percent. Fraunhofer UMSICHT came to this conclusion in the "FlexKaelte" project. At the same time, the researchers found that there are still a number of obstacles and hurdles on the way to flexibilization – from concerns about possible losses in cooling quality and a lack of information regarding the achievable economic potential to the question of how cooperation between the various players can be structured. How these obstacles can be overcome is the focus of the follow-up project "FlexBlue", for which the institute has joined forces with a number of partners.

Fundamental changes are needed if North Rhine-Westphalia is to become a climate-neutral industrial location and remain competitive at the same time. In addition to new production processes and production methods, an optimized infrastructure and adapted framework conditions are required above all. The IN4climate.NRW think tank provides input for this. Representatives from industry, science and politics are meeting here for the first time to provide impetus for the transformation of the raw materials industry. Christoph Glasner from Fraunhofer UMSICHT has been involved right from the start.