Membranes

Application of Membranes in Automotive Fuel Cell Humidifiers – Performance, Stability, Pollutant Gas Tolerance

Membrane humidifiers play an important role in the fuel cell as external components for water management. In the AMBITION project, an extensive infrastructure and the necessary know-how were established to comprehensively characterize humidifier membranes. Thus, the water transfer of hollow fiber and flat membranes can now be determined automatically (24/7) and tools for rational membrane selection are available.

Use of membranes for the processing of biobutanol by osmosis

For fermentatively produced second-generation fuels such as butanol, downstream processing is an energy-intensive and thus cost-intensive step. Through the combined use of optimized gas stripping and an osmosis-driven membrane process, a process has been developed that allows dewatering of the product stream with significantly reduced energy input. For this purpose, customized TFC flat membranes for forward osmosis were developed at the IGB.

Fluorine-free humidifying membrane and innovative membrane winding element for cathode air humidification in PEM fuel cells

A crucial factor for the performance and long-term stability of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells is the water management in the fuel cell. The (cathode) humidifier plays a central role in this. Within the framework of the project, novel fluorine-free flat membranes in particular are to be developed and validated at the IGB.

Development of a wind-wave power open-sea platform equipped for hydrogen generation with support for multiple users of energy

The aim of the H₂Ocean project is the development of an offshore platform which will harvest wind and wave power, using part of the energy on-site for multiple applications – including a multi-trophic aquaculture farm, and convert on-site the excess energy into hydrogen that can be stored and shipped to shore as green energy carrier. In the sub-project desalination the main task of IGB will be optimizing RO-membranes with low-fouling properties.

Self-sufficient offshore H₂ electrolysis

As a sub-project of the H₂-Mare technology platform, the H₂Wind joint project aims to develop the scientific and technological basis for the world's first direct offshore hydrogen production. Among other things, ionomer membranes for electrolysis are being developed for this purpose. In addition to the electrochemical requirements, the membranes must also ensure the necessary gas purity, i.e. the crossover of hydrogen or oxygen must be minimized. To this end, the infrastructure available at the IGB for determining gas permeation at high pressures is being further expanded.

Development of novel high-performance membranes for filtration

Wastewater treatment is a very topical subject of developments in the field of water purification technology. In conventional municipal wastewater treatment plants, the processes of collection, treatment and disposal are usually carried out and these are associated with high energy consumption and high investment costs. In sparsely populated areas, decentralized wastewater treatment can be advantageous.

Highly Integrated Cathode Subsystem: Development and production of a highly integrated air treatment module for use in automotive high-performance PEFCs with production-ready manufacturing technologies to realize automotive performance and cost targets

The management of the water produced played an important role in the performance and lifetime of a fuel cell. Membrane humidifiers can be used for this purpose as an external component to protect the ionomer membrane in the fuel cell from drying out at any time.

A specially developed plasma process enables the production of hollow fiber membranes that permit single-stage dialysis. The hollow fibers are functionalized in such a way that the sensitive blood cells are washed unhindered through the unmodified lumens of the hollow fibers. The blood plasma, on the other hand, is filtered through the pores of the membrane. Their surface is functionalized in such a way that inflammatory endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS) adhere to it.

Functional membranes for save and energy efficient gas separation

So far, the industrial use of technical separation membranes has been largely set to liquid filtration and less to gas separation. In the MEGA project, mixed‑matrix membranes were developed at the Fraunhofer IGB in cooperation with three other Fraunhofer institutes, which have great potential for gas separation due to their improved separation properties compared to pure polymer coatings.

Development, design and construction of a modular, innovative and cost-efficient PEM electrolysis system of 1.25 MW with downstream compression plant

The overall objective of the "MegaLyseurPlus" joint project was to optimize the overall "electrolysis plant" system and to create the conditions for the development and operation of future large-scale electrolysis systems. To this end, the infrastructure for characterizing ionomer membranes was developed and set up at the IGB.

Membrane adsorbers for the separation of recyclable materials and micropollutants

Nowadays various types of membranes for water filtration are already available through commercial channels. A common feature of these membranes is that substantially different separation cut-offs are used for size exclusion. On the other hand, the underlying porous structure, which provides a highly specific surface, remains unused. Membranes for nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) can in fact partially retain molecular and ionic substances.

Recovery of Metals

In the project “Molecular Sorting”, funded as part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s "Markets Beyond Tomorrow" research program, the Fraunhofer IGB has developed new metal-recovery technologies based on the microbiological, separation and electrophysical technology know-how available at IGB.

In an osmosis power plant, two water flows with different salt contents are separated by a semi-permeable membrane. The membrane is permeable for water while salt is rejected, with the effect that water continuously transfers to the high salt content side, causing an increase in pressure. The solution can then be depressurized via a turbine, producing electrical energy.

NEXT GENERATION PLASMA CONVERSION: Integration of green hydrogen into the plasma conversion of CO₂

The NexPlas project aims at the innovative combination of a plasma process with a membrane process for the synthesis of higher-value basic chemicals from CO₂ and "green hydrogen". The focus of the work at the IGB is on the upscaling of the individual process areas. In addition to membrane production, work is being carried out in particular on the integration of multi-fiber module systems in a plasma torch.

Plasma-induced CO₂ conversion

The Kopernikus satellite project PiCK is developing a novel process employing implementing regenerative electrical energy to utilize climate-damaging CO₂ as a carbon source. A combination of plasma and membrane processes  will be used to break down CO₂ into O₂ and CO, which serves as the starting product for the synthesis of platform chemicals and chemical energy stores such as methanol. Within the framework of the project, gas-tight ceramic capillaries were produced at IGB for the first time. These capillaries are both CO₂-stable and suitable for the separation of oxygen from a plasma.

Polyvalent separations by flexible integration of active surfaces in membranes

In this project, new coating materials and particulate additives for filtration membranes are developed with the aim to generate membranes which – in addition to their filtration function – can adsorptively bind dissolved substances in water.

Sulfate depletion by forward osmosis and hollow fiber immersion modules

One of the late effects of opencast lignite mining in Germany is the large-scale iron and sulfate contamination of ground and surface waters. Therefore, the aim of the SULFAMOS project is to develop and demonstrate a process based on forward osmosis to remove sulfate from surface and ground waters so that they can be used as irrigation and drinking water. For this purpose, hollow fibers based on celluslose acetate were developed at the IGB, which carry the separation layer on the outside and were processed from a green solvent.