Hydrogen is a central pillar of the energy transition and energy and mobility strategies. Storage in liquid form by cooling is a basic technology for various applications, such liquefaction is usually carried out in large-scale plants. However, decentral hydrogen production is increasing and subsequently the demand for decentralized storage is also increasing, which requires smaller liquefaction plants and thus more compact low-temperature cryocoolers for hydrogen liquefaction, which are not available and Little research is available. This project investigates the feasibility of smaller capacity cryocoolers and provides an energy comparison with existing large-scale liquefaction plants.

The implementation of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) for heavy-duty transportation requires significant durability improvements and cost reductions that pass by decreasing the Pt-loading in PEFC-anodes to = 20 µgPt·cm-2 without compromising their service life. While the ultra-fast kinetics of the H2-oxidation reaction on Pt imply that such ultralow Pt-loadings shall not have a detrimental effect on the beginning-of-life PEFC performance, their impact on the device’s durability remains largely un-explored. This is particularly critical when considering the gross H2-starvation (GHS-) events that can affect a given cell within a PEFC-stack, and that trigger temporary excursions to very high potentials (> 1.5 V vs. the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE)) that cause a remarkable performance deteriora-tion due to the corrosion of the catalyst’s carbon support. Most importantly, preliminary experiments at PSI have unveiled that GHS is particularly damaging for PEFC-anodes with = 20 µgPt·cm-2, since the high potentials reached during these events do not decay as soon as the H2-supply is re-established, thus causing extensive anode damage. With this motivation, the first part of this project will study in detail how the operative conditions (like temperature or H2-pressure) and anode components (e.g., presence / absence of an O2-evolution catalyst) affect the duration of this high potential trapped state and its subsequent damage to the PEFC-performance. Subsequently, the second part will deal with the synthesis, cell implementation and electrochemical testing of a novel type of C-free, TiO2-core / Pt-shell (TiO2@Pt) catalyst with a Ti-oxide overcoating that should eradicate this trapped state while al-lowing the manufacture of anodes with = 20 µgPt·cm-2.

For reasons of efficiency, power density and service life, PEM fuel cells require an over-stoichiometric supply of compressed and humidified fresh air. Nowadays, oil-free, air-bearing turbomachines are used for this purpose. The power requirement of these turbomachines leads to a significant drop in the efficiency of PEM fuel cell systems as the load increases, which is particularly detrimental to high-load applications (e.g. commercial vehicles, mobile machinery, marine) in terms of operating costs and cooling requirements. In this project, the use of an alternative charging system as the core of the air supply is to be researched: the pressure wave supercharger. In principle, this technology enables an efficient supply of compressed air and offers the potential to recover moisture. For this purpose, a pressure wave supercharger is specifically designed and built for the boundary conditions of PEM fuel cells and operated under fuel cell-relevant boundary conditions.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) based hydrogen fuel cell systems (FCSs) in mobility applications require an air supply with a compressor. In the 70-120 kW FCS power class, several key challenges including, turbine modularity, cost and efficiency trade-offs at current market volumes and high efficiency requirements hinder the adoption of FC technology in this power class. This project targets to solve these problems by expanding a novel gas bearing technology to this power class through developing and employing building blocks including turbine from a high-power baseline compressor. This approach enables the development of a compressor system for medium-power FCs offering superior efficiency and optimized costs at current market volumes, while also quantifying its impact on overall system performance. The research results from this project shall allow the fuel cell research and development community to improve system designs through improved efficiency and costs thereby accelerating the adoption of fuel cell technology and enabling a substantial CO2 emission reduction. Besides the environmental upsides, these research results also promote innovation in the swiss high-tech industry sector for sustainable energy solutions.

Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) has led to the shutdown of an important pipeline delivering gas to Switzerland and hydrogen is involved in the process of SCC. The implication of hydrogen generated by cathodic protection needs to be clarified to take operational measures with respect to minimizing the risk. The assessment of the key parameters affecting hydrogen loading and diffusion is additional-ly relevant for assessing the possible future problems with transporting hydrogen in pipelines.

Ammonia is a worldwide primary chemical with an annual production of over 150 Mtons, which is expected to increase in demand due to its use as a hydrogen vector and fuel in shipping. However, current production, starting from fossil fuels as the source of hydrogen, significantly impacts CO2 emissions. The project aims to develop an integrated technology of green ammonia distributed production (to use the local resources of green energy in place of fossil fuels) and its on-site catalytic cracking (for example, on ships), with all the CET partnership members with a pilot plant that will be built and utilized in EU. The overall aim of the project is thus to develop up to TRL 6 the process of distributed green ammonia production with the technology of ammonia catalytic cracking to offer clients the options of using green ammonia as energy or hydrogen carrier. The aim is to develop the technologies that are still unavailable at this TRL level. Thus, the production of H2 by electrolysis and the transport/storage of ammonia do not fall within this objective. Together with the thermal catalytic cracking of ammonia, the objective is also to develop a novel electrocatalytic route, offering a series of potential advantages for on-site uses.

Zero emission energy conversion technologies are an important component in Switzerland’s long-term climate strategy and its desired path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to become net zero by 2050. The production of green hydrogen via alkaline water electrolysis is a key reaction for such an energy landscape on which further technologies critically rely on (e.g. methanol production through CO2 hydrogenation). The development of stable, yet inexpensive (based on earth-abundant elements) electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a challenge for large-scale alkaline water electrolysis and is therefore the key focus of the current proposal. Within this project we aim to develop a new class of active, yet inexpensive catalysts, i.e., iron-based, negative charge transfer oxides based on iron, for alkaline OER. In addition to making fun-damental advances in material design, the electrocatalysts developed in this project will be integrat-ed into a large-scale electrolysis setup, in which their competitiveness with state-of-the-art catalysts will be critically assessed from both performance and economic perspectives.

Hydrogen will be important in achieving secure energy systems with net-zero emissions by providing seasonal storage for the grid and enabling synthetic fuels for industry. However, domestic value chains and international markets need policy support to accelerate their development. This project investigates which hydrogen policies are needed in Switzerland through a domestic and an international lens. First, import and domestic value chains are compared through techno-economic modeling. Then, strategic options for Switzerland to join international hydrogen markets are evaluated. Finally, the skilled jobs required for developing hydrogen value chains are estimated. Throughout the project, uncertainty about future hydrogen needs and changing regulatory contexts is considered. Findings will show the framework conditions requirements and costs of different value chains; estimate policy impacts, skilled workforce requirements and potential job creation; and quantify economic and geopolitical implications of future hydrogen markets, contributing to the academic literature and informing policy decisions.

Hydrogen can serve as an energy vector and is expected to play a vital role in future sector coupling and deep decarbonization scenarios, for example for the production of transportation fuels. Water electrolysis using renewable electricity is a flexible, modular, and scalable technology for green hydrogen production. Improvement of the conversion efficiency is imperative to lower hydrogen cost. The aim of the proposed project is, on the one hand, to introduce new additive materials into thin proton exchange membranes to reduce hydrogen crossover and improve membrane stability. On the other hand, functional additives will be incorporated into anion exchange membranes (AEMs), which operate under alkaline conditions and offer the prospect of a lower use of critical raw materials. The new membranes will be characterized and validated in laboratory-scale single cells.

Various extreme situations that may occur in local electricity grids in the future are being investigated. The focus is on the expected grid stability and the flexibility that may be available through the use of new sector coupling technologies such as Power-to-X (PtX) and X-to-Power (XtP). A physical grid model is used to physically simulate the electrical energy grid and the challenges associated with the energy transition. Extreme situations such as rapid and large load changes or sudden voltage drops cannot be simulated in the real grid without jeopardizing the security of supply, but appropriate technologies must still be tested for their response to these challenges. The project is investigating how Power-to-X and X-to-Power technologies can respond to these challenges and contribute to relieving the grid with balancing energy.

In its desire to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%, Switzerland wishes to progressively develop the use of low-carbon energy carriers in addition to reducing consumption. The short-term possibilities for industrials using grey hydrogen consist in replacing this use by renewable hydrogen which is what Zwahlen & Mayr SA wants for its processes. The PRHYSM project aims to produce renewable hydrogen where it is consumed by Zwahlen & Mayr SA, from solar electricity via high-temperature electrolysis of water, replacing grey hydrogen imported by truck. At the end of this project, SolydEra will be able to install its electrolyser in Switzerland, as well as internationally, and to know its performance in industrial operating conditions. Romande Energie SA will be able to offer a new, virtuous H2 contracting service to all Swiss industrialists.

As part of the H2R® BFE project and other work carried out by CP and partners, the H2R® technology was successfully demonstrated in atmospheric combustion tests at the FHNW. These tests have shown that low NOx values can be achieved, flashback can be avoided and flame stability is maintained over a wide range of burner speeds and at preheating and firing temperatures relevant for gas turbines. As mentioned in the original SFOE-funded project (SI/502148-01), atmospheric combustion tests provide important qualitative results that help refine burner design but do not allow quantitative prediction of burner performance under gas turbine conditions. Some key characteristics of burner operation, such as emissions, flashback and flame stability, depend on pressure as it affects, for example, turbulence, chemistry and heat transfer. Such dependencies are complex and cannot be easily modeled, especially with regard to hydrogen combustion and the effects of additive manufacturing. High pressure testing is required to ensure that the test burner exhibits appropriate behavior under gas turbine relevant conditions, including in particular the effects of operating pressure, and to develop and refine models required for the design of hydrogen fueled burners for gas turbines. With the end of the existing SFOE project, the technology has reached TRL5 status. The current extension builds on the successful demonstration of the H2R® technology at various atmospheric conditions and focuses on the next step of conducting high pressure combustion tests at gas turbine relevant anchor points. These tests will be conducted at SESTA Lab in Italy, which has a facility capable of testing H2R at burner speeds, temperatures and pressures suitable for gas turbine combustion systems.

Heat transferred to cylinder walls in IC engines accounts for roughly one quarter of the total heat losses. Significant progress was reported in previous projects on the structure and evolutions of the time-varying boundary layers in engines, enabling the development of an improved model for wall heat transfer. Nonetheless, modelling of the near-wall flame structure and its coupling with the wall heat flux still poses considerable challenges. This applies in particular to high-reactivity fuels like hydrogen, exhibiting reduced quenching distances and hence significantly higher heat fluxes. The proposed project seeks to combine spatio-temporally resolved measurements of wall temperature in the optical engine operated with lean hydrogen-air mixures (at TU Darmstadt) with Direct Numerical Simulations (at ETH Zurich) towards improved engineering CFD models for Flame-Wall-Interaction and heat transfer in IC engines (at Empa).

To comply with the ambitious timeline of Swiss renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission targets, an accelerated market development of sustainable fuels and platform chemicals is necessary. While first-generation technology is available to initiate a ramp-up, this is not the case for policies, laws, regulations, and markets (non-technical aspects). A first aim of the reFuel.ch project is therefore concerned with investigating how investment security can be improved by closing this knowledge gap. This has to be done carefully, based on a broad understanding of sustainability criteria, to avoid misguided decisions and detrimental effects on future developments and implementation.reFuel.ch will therefore develop robust and practical pathways for introducing sustainable fuels and platform chemicals to markets and the Swiss energy system using an inter- and transdisciplinary approach. This will include inputs from social science (sociology, law, economics, and political science), natural sciences, and engineering, as well as the dialogue with relevant stakeholders - i.e., policy makers, regulators, market actors, and end users - via regular thematic Round Table discussions. Within this framework, case studies for domestic, European, and non-European implementations will be evaluated and co-designed.A second aim is to strengthen innovative technologies currently at low technology readiness level. This will be achieved by focusing on green methanol pathways and other technologies with breakthrough potential for sustainable fuel and platform chemical production. The overall target is to improve sustainability and reduce costs by increasing efficiency, selectivity, and load-flexibility of plants in order to comply with long-term climate policy goals.

To compensate the volatile power generation from renewables, hydrogen-fired gas turbines will be an important part of the future energy system. Besides novel combustor architectures it is crucial to also provide retrofit solutions to achieve the CO2 reduction targets. The development process of today’s combustion systems relies on assessments at atmospheric pressure. This is possible because for lean natural gas flames, the turbulent flame speed is insensitive to the mean pressure level. For alternative fuels, especially for H2, however, the turbulent flame speed strongly depends on the mean pressure level. Therefore, the established development procedure for natural gas cannot be applied. AETHER aims at modifying and extending the existing approach such that the thermoacoustic behavior of pressure-sensitive fuels can be deduced from atmospheric low TRL tests. By doing so, a reliable, time and cost-effective development approach for alternative fuels will be established.

According to the Energy Perspectives 2050+ of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, sector coupling and electrolyser installations take important roles in our future energy system. In using Power-to-Gas systems operated in a highly flexible way, waste incineration plants can offer secondary auxiliary ser- vices and other highly dynamic products to the electricity grid and at the same time produce hydrogen as a chemical energy carrier. The proposed project, an electrolyser from the Swiss company Hitachi Zosen Inova AG is built in the waste incineration plant Buchs AG (GEKAL) and operated during a test period of five years, which include an extension of the electrolyser. The project is an important step towards a renewable energy system. At the same time it allows demonstrating an electrolyser system developed and built in Swit- zerland as well as unlocking a new role in the energy system for waste incineration plants and a new business opportunity.