After a project duration of around three years, the co-electrolysis plant’s Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) was recently successfully completed, putting Sunfire’s new generation of co-electrolysis into operation for the first time. The unique feature of this innovative technology is the particularly efficient process, in which synthesis gas – a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide – is produced in just one step using renewable electricity from water steam and CO2. The whole process takes place at high operating temperatures of up to 850°C.
Within the FAT, an output of up to 220 kW with an electrical efficiency of more than 85 %LHV was achieved, which represents a significant increase compared to the proof-of-concept system of the first project phase (10 kW). Sunfire relied on significant operational experience from the recently completed SynLink research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). As part of the project, Sunfire developed and validated a co-electrolysis module in the ~150 kW size class.
The renewable synthesis gas produced by co-electrolysis can be further processed in a downstream step into alternative fuels, waxes or other chemical products. For this purpose, the electrolyser will be delivered to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at the beginning of the year and integrated into a power-to-liquid plant at the Energy Lab 2.0. The project partners aim to produce around 200 litres of synthetic fuels per day with the integrated plant over the course of several campaigns.