OHS is supplying an electrolysis system and thus the hydrogen source for the ORBIT II research project to the Ostbayrische Technische Hochschule (OTH) in Regensburg. The ORBIT II project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), is about storing electricity from renewable sources in the form of methane. To this end, renewable electricity is first converted into hydrogen and then, together with carbon dioxide – also from renewable sources such as biogas – into methane.
In the ORBIT II project, so-called archaea take over the conversion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide into methane. These are located in a trickle bed bioreactor for this purpose. By developing power-to-gas technology further, the project partners want to provide another readily available building block for realizing the energy transition and thus make a contribution to tackling climate change.
The goals of OHS in this project are :
a) to use PEM electrolysis to provide a hydrogen source that can follow the fluctuating electricity generation from renewable sources,
b) to use a smart software to control the dynamic operation of the electrolysis in such a way that the hydrogen demand for methanation can be covered at any time without an intermediate hydrogen buffer,
c) to investigate the extent to which joint heat management between electrolysis and methanation reactor is possible and
d) to provide the oxygen that is also produced by the electrolysis as a process gas for the clarification tank.
Further information on the project and the latest results can be found at the ORBIT II project website: