Germany
Challenge
Transporting hydrogen is difficult and usually requires either very high pressures or very low temperatures, something that hinders a wider adoption of hydrogen technologies.
Innovation
An innovative method for transporting hydrogen is to use liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC). LOHCs are fluids like oil or gasoline that can be transported easily using existing infrastructure. A large number of organic molecules can in principle be used to transport hydrogen, but identifying those that are particularly well suited has required many years of publicly funded research. Other innovations include the systems required to add hydrogen to the LOHC and to get it back out again.
Impact
The technology is being commercialized by Hydrogenious Technologies, a spin-off from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Having completed the technological proof of concept for LOHC and a successful close of a Series A funding round, Hydrogenious Technologies is backed with strong scientific, strategic and financial capacities to revolutionize large-scale energy and hydrogen storage.
Potential
If LOHC technology can enable a wider adoption of hydrogen as an energy carrier, this could be a vital step to solve the intermittency problem of renewable energy sources. By making it easier to integrate renewable energy or hydrogen produced using renewable energy with existing infrastructure, this technology could be an important enabler of the global energy transition.