Sunfire commissions high-temp H2O and CO2 co-electrolysis plant

German electrolyser maker Sunfire GmbH said on Tuesday that its high-temperature water steam and CO2 co-electrolysis plant successfully passed the factory acceptance test (FAT).

The company developed, and now commissioned, the electrolyser as part of the German government-funded Kopernikus P2X project, the goal of which is to develop technologies and processes that can convert and store renewable energy using power-to-X solutions.

Do you know we have a daily hydrogen newsletter? Subscribe here for free!

Sunfire’s plant takes renewable power to electrolyse water steam and CO2 in a one-step process to produce synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). The process to break apart hydrogen from water and carbon monoxide from CO2 takes place at temperatures of up to 850 degrees Celsius.

Sunfire said that an output of up to 220 kW achieved an electrical efficiency of more than 85% within the FAT. This represented a significant increase compared to the 10-kW proof-of-concept system of the first project phase, according to the Dresden-based company.

The syngas from this process can be further converted into alternative fuels, waxes and other chemical products. As the next step, Sunfire will deliver the electrolyser to the Karlsrue Institute of Technology (KIT) at the beginning of the year, where it will be integrated into a power-to-liquid plant at the Energy Lab 2.0.

The aim of the Kopernikus P2X project is to produce around 200 liters of synthetic fuels per day with the integrated plant over the course of several campaigns, Sunfire said.