In order to achieve climate neutrality, the use of electricity-based fuels is essential for many areas of application. The aviation industry in particular will continue to rely on liquid fuels in the future. Yet the widespread industrial-scale production of electricity-based fuels (power-to-liquid, PtL) still poses a major challenge.

The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI – Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur) has therefore commissioned a study on the “Conceptual and technical design of a development platform for PtL fuels” (“Konzeptionelle und technische Ausgestaltung einer Entwicklungsplattform für PtL-Kraftstoffe”), which was accompanied by NOW GmbH. Under the terms of this project, a consortium consisting of the German Aerospace Center (DLR – Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH – Technische Universität Hamburg) and John Brown Voest GmbH has developed a concept for the construction and operation of a modular PtL development platform for researching and scaling up technologies for the production of standard-compliant PtL fuel.

The BMVI is aiming for an open call for funding for the construction and operation of the PtL development platform before the end of the current legislative period.

The results of the study were presented at a public, digital concluding event on Thursday, 15.07.2021. The slides of the event, as well as the concluding report of the study are now available (in German) on the NOW website: Download EPP Concluding Report (PDF, in German)