Press releases | News

Altech Batteries GmbH, a joint venture of Fraunhofer IKTS and the ALTECH Group, has reached an important milestone with the publication of the feasibility study for the joint CERENERGY^® project. The study underlines the great economic potential of the technology, which offers a sustainable energy storage solution with sodium solid-state batteries, especially for grid applications. A battery factory is planned in Schwarze Pumpe (Saxony) with an annual capacity of 120 battery containers with an output of 1 MWh each, the so-called “GridPacks”.

In the BMBF joint project "BALU", a consortium of research institutions and specialized industrial companies is further developing the aluminum-graphite dual-ion battery (AGDIB). The project is pursuing the ambitious goal of transferring the production of AGDIB cells from laboratory scale to industry-compatible production conditions. Ecological considerations, such as the avoidance of critical raw materials, environmentally friendly production and subsequent recycling, play an explicit role in the transfer of the new battery technology. Fraunhofer IKTS is contributing its expertise in cell and process development.

Especially in winter, heat pumps can freeze up, which greatly minimizes their energy efficiency. The partners in the recently launched project PIEZOdevICE, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action (BMBF), want to counter this by developing strategies that minimize the additional energy required for defrosting and thus increase the COP value (coefficient of performance) of the heat pump.

thyssenkrupp nucera and Fraunhofer IKTS agree on a strategic partnership in SOEC technology to jointly take the final steps towards industrial production and application of the high-temperature electrolysis (SOEC) developed at Fraunhofer IKTS.

Fraunhofer IKTS and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) will be working together under one roof to develop industrial technology projects in Dresden, starting from February 2024. The Germany-Korea Technology Cooperation Center for Global Value Chains will be established at the IKTS site in Dresden-Klotzsche, bringing together Korean companies and German researchers. The opening ceremony took place on February 20, 2024 in the presence of representatives from the South Korean Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Saxon Economic Development Agency.

In the BMBF project "Power-to-MEDME-FuE", a research consortium with the participation of Fraunhofer IKTS is evaluating the production potential of hydrogen and liquid fuels from solar energy in Chile. In addition to the technical issues, economic, logistical and socio-economic aspects of scaling up are being examined. The project team is also supporting the establishment of a pilot production facility for methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) in Chile. Fraunhofer IKTS is contributing its expertise in the evaluation of various electrolysis technologies.

South Africa could play an important role as a reliable producer of green hydrogen in the coming years. However, there are currently challenges when it comes to storing and distributing the raw material. This is where the recently launched Fraunhofer joint project “HySecunda” comes in, which aims to find optimized solutions for the production, storage and certification of green hydrogen. Fraunhofer IKTS is contributing its expertise in the development of measuring methods and sensor concepts.

In the recently launched project VorZuQ, Fraunhofer IKTS aims to extend its thermo-mechanical analysis methods into the cryogenic temperature range and thus create the first applications for quantum computing-related materials and structures.

Steel production causes significant emissions of carbon dioxide. To decarbonize steel production and its high CO₂ emissions, Fraunhofer researchers, TS ELINO GmbH and Salzgitter AG are working on converting an existing steel mill to climate-neutral production methods. The aim is to produce steel by the direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen, which would completely replace harmful coke as a reducing agent. The hydrogen required for this method is produced using electrolysis processes with electricity generated from renewable energy sources. Overall, this could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 97 percent. The decarbonization of the steel industry would therefore contribute significantly to protecting the climate.

When carrying out root canal treatment procedures, dentists need to insert a file deep into the root canal to remove the inflamed tissue. The rotating file often gets jammed and must be cleaned regularly. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS have developed a piezoceramic stack actuator that overlays the rotating motion with an axial vibration. The file does not get jammed as often, meaning that procedures on patients can be completed faster. This technology is also useful for other medical applications, for example in diagnostics and cancer treatment. Fraunhofer IKTS will present a demonstrator at the joint Fraunhofer booth at the COMPAMED medical engineering trade show in Düsseldorf (Hall 8a, Booth G10).

Long-lasting batteries play an integral role in the energy turnaround and thereby in particular the electric transport turnaround. The German branch of battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology GmbH (CATL) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS are jointly developing models at the industrial site Erfurter Kreuz to predict the lifetime of batteries, which will serve as a basis for optimized battery production. The cooperation, which started in 2020 with the “BattLife” project, is now being continued and expanded in the project “BattForce”.

At around 28 %, the production of crude steel via the blast furnace route accounts for a large proportion of industrial CO₂ emissions in Germany. This is why steel producers are working intensively on converting steel production to the direct reduction process. As one of the pioneers in this field, Salzgitter AG has already been working for six years in a consortium with the Fraunhofer Institutes IKTS, ISI and UMSICHT on how low-CO₂ crude steel production can be realized using green hydrogen. In the two successive research projects “MACOR” and “BeWiSe”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), it has already been demonstrated that this approach can reduce CO₂ emissions by at least 95 %. Supplemented by further measures, CO₂-free steel production is thus possible. The technical conditions for a changeover and questions of acceptance were also investigated. As part of its SALCOS project, Salzgitter AG plans to convert conventional steel production via blast furnaces to the direct reduction process using hydrogen by 2033. Construction work for the gradual conversion has already begun and one third of the steel production capacity will already have been transformed to the low-CO₂ process by 2026.

The balcony power plant is booming. But where to put the electricity generated when nothing is being consumed in the household? This is where rechargeable stationary energy storage systems come into play. Dual-ion batteries (DIB) do not contain any harmful metals and are made of materials that are available in Germany. This novel technology promises lower costs, safety, independence as well as sustainability.

In the “KlimProMem” project, climate-neutral processes in the feedstock industry are being further developed – specifically, CO₂ is to be separated from flue gases of waste incineration plants using membrane technology and soda ash production is to be used as a CO₂ sink. For this purpose, membranes, plant and process concepts are being tested to enable climate-neutral and energy-efficient production of important basic materials. For gas separation, carbon membranes are being developed at Fraunhofer IKTS and scaled for use in large plants. In field trials, the developments of the project partners will be integrated and tested in two waste incineration plants. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is supporting the project as part of the funding objective “Avoidance of climate-relevant process emissions in industry (KlimPro-Industrie)” with approximately 1.5 million euros over three years.

Today, fruit and vegetables are transported thousands of kilometers to Germany. A team at Fraunhofer IKTS now wants to bring horticulture to the cities with efficient and compact water, energy and gas management – and thereby strengthen regional self-sufficiency.

Fraunhofer IKTS and the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) plan to cooperate closely in industrial technology and innovation research. On September 18, 2023, Prof. Alexander Michaelis, director of Fraunhofer IKTS, signed the Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Dulig and representatives of the Saxon Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport SMWA and the Saxony Trade & Invest Corporation with the Korean project management organization in Seoul.

Multi-material 3D printing with technical materials has huge potential. For example, functionalized or functionally graded products can be printed within a single process in a resource-saving manner. This significantly shortens the process chain and reduces manufacturing costs compared to conventional production routes. In order to commercialize this promising technology, the developers of the multi-material jetting technology at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS founded AMAREA Technology GmbH. The spin-off has been active since February of 2023. The entrepreneurs act as system developers on the market and sell both the printing technology and the newly developed printing materials. The possibilities extend beyond technical ceramics: metals, hardmetals, glasses, composites, cermets and even polymers can be processed.

Aircraft fuel consumption can be reduced by lowering drag and wing weight. This is the goal set by the partners in the EU project HERWINGT on the road to climate-neutral aviation. The aim is to create a short-haul aircraft for up to 100 passengers that produces 50 % fewer emissions by 2035.

Fraunhofer researchers have developed an extremely heat-resistant ceramic-based ink. For the first time, this enables metal components processed in the automotive industry at temperatures over 1000 ºC to be marked with a code. The code can be scanned and is linked to a database in which all the manufacturing parameters for the component in question are stored. The advantages of the technology are not simply the ability to detect production glitches and defective components at an early stage. It also opens up wide-ranging possibilities for designing process chains in the industry more efficiently and reducing their carbon footprint significantly. Even component forgeries can be prevented by means of special additives in the ink.

Silicon carbide is a popular industrial material for many applications. The extremely hard, heat-resistant material is used for refractory components and semiconductors, for instance. But its production is energy-intensive and emits a lot of carbon dioxide, as well as producing large amounts of by-products and waste products. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS have developed RECOSiC^©, an especially environmentally friendly recycling process that turns these by-products and waste products back into high-quality silicon carbide. This new process improves yields and also reduces the dependency on suppliers of raw materials.