And here is another one of our great finalists. We are happy to have Hydrogenious from Germany on board. Their Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) technology brings energy storage to another level. CEO Dr. Daniel Teichmann spoke to us about their role as an infrastructure provider, the technology they developed and the potential in it for the customer.
Describe your product and its history! What is your unique value proposition and your business model?
Hydrogenious’ Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) technology binds the hydrogen to a carrier oil, which can be stored and handled at ambient conditions. Our LOHC oil is non-toxic, hardly flammable and non-explosive enabling hydrogen transport in existing fuel infrastructure. Hydrogenious Technologies acts as an infrastructure provider and designs, develops, builds and sells the systems necessary for the storage (StorageBOX) and release (ReleaseBOX) of the hydrogen to and from the LOHC oil. Transport capacities per truck are increased by a factor of five with LOHC compared to 250 bar compressed hydrogen transport and reducing total cost for hydrogen transport to the customer by up to 50 percent.
What is your vision in regards to the future of the energy economy? And how does your product contribute to this future?
The hydrogen economy is not a vision anymore, it is getting a reality in zero emission mobility and energy storage. However, hydrogen storage today still needs very high pressures (up to 700 bar) or very low temperatures (-253°C), which imposes challenges on hydrogen distribution companies and hinders innovative hydrogen applications such as hydrogen mobility and energy storage.
The LOHC technology of Hydrogenious Technologies enables safe and easy hydrogen storage and transport at ambient conditions in existing fuel infrastructure. Thereby hydrogen enables additional use-case scenarios for hydrogen and a nationwide hydrogen infrastructure accelerating the roll-out of the hydrogen economy.
What are, in your opinion, the key challenges of the energy transition in general, and what are they specifically for your startup?
In contrast to the technologies of our existing energy generation system, most renewable energy sources are extremely fluctuating. In order to succeed in the energy transition we will have to make our renewable energy generation reliable. This is only possible if we address the key challenges of large-scale energy distribution and sector coupling. Hydrogen has the potential to be a universal energy vector that connects renewable electricity generation with energy consumption in the mobility and industry sector. With LOHC hydrogen storage systems large-scale energy storage and sector coupling can be realized with the highest possible safety at comparably low costs. LOHC technology will be one of the key technologies to address the challenges of our future energy system.
Where are you based, and who are the key innovation drivers in the energy ecosystem in your region?
Hydrogenious Technologies is based in the Erlangen-Nuremberg area that is home to several successful players in the German energy ecosystem. On an academic level the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the EnergieCampus Nürnberg are very well-known for their excellent research in the field of energy related topics. The strength of the region is further supported by a high density of industrial companies. Erlangen is not only home to several energy-related business divisions of Siemens and Areva, but also to many small and medium-sized enterprises that are often very successful on the World market.
Which results for your startup do you expect from the Tech Festival by DENA in March 2017?
We have high expectations for the Tech festival by DENA. In our eyes it is an excellent platform to meet and interact with many important stakeholders from the energy sector. It will be a great opportunity to present our LOHC technology, its current state of market readiness and its applications within a future renewable energy system. We are looking forward to establish new contacts to a variety of attendees from other start-ups, from the German energy sector, from Politics and potential investors.
Hydrogenious offers plug-and-play hydrogenation (StorageBOX) and dehydrogenation (ReleaseBOX) systems for industrial hydrogen supply and logistics. Our products provide the infrastructure for easy and safe hydrogen distribution. Our customers profit from lower cost transport, increased safety and reduced handling complexity.
