As part of the Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube project, a LOHC ReleasePLANT is being built that will supply up to 1,800 t of green H₂ to customers in the Bavarian Danube region from 2028. “The implementation and funding of the IPCEI projects is clear proof that the German government is pushing the development of a H₂ infrastructure with great commitment. As an innovative Bavarian company, we are proud to play our part in this,” explained Dr. Daniel Teichmann, founder and CEO of Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies, at the personal handover of the €72.5-MM funding grant by Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Robert Habeck and the Bavarian State Ministers Hubert Aiwanger and Dr. Florian Herrmann at H2ious’ headquarters in Erlangen.

“LOHC technology is set to become an important building block in achieving the ambitious climate targets of Bavaria, Germany and Europe quickly and sustainably. Our Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube project will contribute equally to the success of the energy transition and to maintaining Germany as an attractive economic environment,” continued Daniel Teichmann.

At the handover of the funding grant, the ministers and numerous other guests from politics and industry were given onsite presentations on the advantages of LOHC technology and the Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube project. Beforehand, they had a valuable exchange with representatives of the company regarding the ramp-up of the H₂ economy in Bavaria and Germany. The visit of the Federal Minister of Economics and the Bavarian State Ministers underlines the importance of the project and the LOHC technology for the German H₂ strategy and the ramp-up of the European H₂ economy as a whole.

The project Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube was recognized by the European Commission in February 2024 as an “Important Project of Common European Interest” (IPCEI) as part of the “Hy2Infra” H₂ initiative. The funding of €72.5 MM will accelerate the ramp-up of the H₂ economy and contribute to a stable H₂ supply for industry in Central Europe. The federal government is providing 70% of the funding and the state of Bavaria 30%.

Thanks to Hydrogenious’ innovative LOHC technology, large quantities of green H₂ can be transported safely to Southern Germany via existing infrastructure for liquid fuels (e.g., tanker trucks, rail, inland waterway vessels). In the process, H₂ is chemically bound to the hardly flammable thermal oil benzyltoluene. This LOHC can be stored and transported safely under ambient conditions in a comparable way to diesel. At the off-taker-site, the H₂ is released from the LOHC in high purity. The carrier oil can then be reused to store and transport H₂.

The flexibility of this LOHC technology makes it possible to connect national and international H₂ producers with industrial off-takers in Germany and avoid one-sided dependencies. For example, some of the H₂ for the Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube project will be produced from renewable energy in Bavaria as well as at Chempark Dormagen in North Rhine-Westphalia, where Hydrogenious will build the world’s largest plant for storing H₂ in LOHC starting in 2025.

This green H₂ stored in LOHC will supply local industrial customers in the Danube region and can be fed into pipeline networks such as the HyPipe Bavaria in the future. Connections to the German H₂ core network and the European H₂ backbone are planned and will further increase the resilience of the energy system.

Dr Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action said, “Today marks the start of a truly pioneering project in the field of liquid organic H₂ carriers, which will pilot LOHC-based H₂ infrastructure on a large scale in order to supply regions with green H₂ that are not connected to the H₂ core network. I am delighted that we are promoting this young technology of Hydrogenious LOHC in Erlangen as part of IPCEI, which will make an important contribution to the development of the H₂ economy and thus have a significant impact on the transformation of the industry.”

Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy said, “Anyone who seriously wants to advance the H₂ economy must keep the entire value chain in mind. Hydrogenious addresses the safe and efficient transport of H₂ with their project. Using the so-called ‘liquid organic H₂ carrier’ technology – or LOHC for short – H₂ is bound to a liquid, reusable carrier medium, allowing it to be transported globally. Green Hydrogen @ Blue Danube is a forward-looking project that we are happy to support from Bavaria with €21.8 MM.”