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On January 8, 2023, Fraunhofer IKTS, Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering (KSOE) Co, LTD and European SOC producer ELCOGEN agreed on a close development collaboration in the fields of hydrogen and fuel/electrolysis cells.

How can an economic, social and ecologically sustainable structural change be achieved in the former opencast mines near Helmstedt? How can jobs in this region be safeguarded and new ones created? Which innovations are necessary in order to strengthen the agricultural enterprises in the region in the long term? These questions are being addressed not only by politicians and the people and companies of the Helmstedt region, but also by the scientists of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

The international research project CARE-O-SENE (Catalyst Research for Sustainable Kerosene) was granted 30 million euros in funding by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Additionally, the industrial consortium partners contribute 10 million euros. The aim of the project is to develop novel, next-generation Fischer-Tropsch catalysts and thus to optimise the production of sustainable kerosene – or Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) – on an industrial scale.

If we look at all of the business sectors in Germany, industry requires the largest amount of water. This makes access to efficient technology for cleaning and recycling water all the more important for this sector in particular. Ideally, this technology should also allow energy and valuable raw materials to be retrieved so that they can be reused in production. In order to address all of these issues in a practical way, researchers at Fraunhofer have been developing a testing and technology platform. It is located on-site at a large wastewater treatment plant, where the wastewater from one of the largest chemical parks in Europe is treated.

Using substrate waste from mushroom production and sewage sludge compost, the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and its partners Veolia Klärschlammverwertung Deutschland GmbH, the Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy of TU Dresden as well as the Institut für Holztechnologie Dresden gemeinnützige GmbH have made a landfill site in the Leipzig area flourish. In the future, the researchers also want to use their new recultivation technology to vegetate open-cast mines and old mining dumps – and, as a welcome side-effect, significantly reduce energy consumption in German mushroom cultivation facilities.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and the Altech Group establish the joint venture Altech Batteries GmbH to commercialize the ceramic solid-state battery cerenergy^® developed at Fraunhofer IKTS. In the coming years, a cerenergy^® battery factory is to be built at the Schwarze Pumpe site in Saxony.

At the Sensor Space Summer School of Fraunhofer IKTS, students from grade 7 and up build their own heart monitor.

In collaboration with TU Dresden, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a process for obtaining valuable, high-purity ethyl acetate from whey. This can be used, for example, to produce environmentally friendly adhesives, thereby replacing conventional ethyl acetate extracted from fossil-based raw materials. It also eliminates the need for costly disposal of the molasses produced during whey processing.

More than 20 companies from the Erfurter Kreuz e.V. initiative are working together in the CleanEFX interest group to supply the commercial area at Erfurter Kreuz with energy and process heat in a climate-neutral manner. Even before the current geopolitical changes, the project idea was initiated in several workshops by companies and research institutions. The goal is to combine the existing infrastructures at the industrial park, to use process media in sector coupling and to find synergies among each other and in the region. The regional, sustainable energy solution has already inspired other companies and found renowned support in business and politics.

Triple Perfect: Equinor Ventures joins forces with Fraunhofer IKTS and experienced spinoff management and investment company CoFounder – resulting in the foundation of new deep tech venture “Nicoustic”. The new company provides offshore pressure vessel monitoring technology using guided ultrasonic waves.