Why is the energy transition especially challenging for industrialized nations? Political interests and globalized markets make the complete restructuring of the energy industry a Herculean task. To transform well-established production processes and infrastructure into “green” in a relatively short period is often technically or economically challenging. After all, renewable energy sources cannot easily replace fossil oil, gas, or coal: the transformation requires cost-intensive adjustments.
For this reason, the tabula rasa (—i.e., “clean slate”) approach is highly unrealistic. The path toward independence from fossil fuels does not require gigantic steps. In this sense, other countries are leading the way with plausible and effective solutions. These are often small but steady steps that help to become independent of fossil fuels in the long term. Hence, NEUMAN & ESSER positions green gases as a substantial piece of the puzzle for sustainable transformation, on an equal footing with solar and wind power. It is through the combination of these energy sources and carriers that makes the sustainable development of energy supply and decarbonization of industrial processes feasible. To decarbonize, current material flows must be examined for their efficiency and sustainability and replaced with the most suitable green alternatives. At the same time, it is an opportunity to bring previously unused resources and by-products into value-adding cycles.
NEUMAN & ESSER aims to provide customers with solutions for the climate-neutral transformation of their previously fossil-based value chain. The consortium offers to support their clients throughout the realization and ongoing optimization of their processes – from conceptualization to financing support, project management to commissioning, and beyond. The consortium also offers both plant maintenance and operational management services as well as off-take and marketing of the CO2-neutral gases produced.
Experts in the fields of hydrogen, biomethane, fuel cells, electrolyzers, and e-fuels of NEUMAN & ESSER and its holdings are working on the realization of sustainable value chains. Green hydrogen and biomethane are CO2-neutral and in some cases even CO2-negative storage carriers. They can be produced decentralized, used widely, and flexibly converted into electrical energy, heat, or fuel. Increasing their production and use in the areas of municipal and industrial energy supply and mobility is the fastest way to save significant amounts of CO2.
The processes for producing biogas and upgrading it to climate-neutral or CO2-negative biomethane are mature, available, technologies. Their potential, however, remains underexploited. For perspective: if the biomethane currently produced in Germany is increased 100 TWh by 2030, one fifth of Russian natural gas supplies could be immediately replaced. This is an essential contribution to both decarbonization and energy security and can be directly achieved within the portfolio of NEUMAN & ESSER. This includes commissioning of modern biogas upgrading plants, expanding existing upgrading plants as well as preserving or improving efficiency through optimal maintenance and intelligent operational management.
Our experts aim to maximize greenhouse gas reduction while simultaneously increasing economic efficiency. One such example includes enriching substrate in the feed of a biogas plant with liquid manure or with biogenic waste materials. This is greenhouse gas reduction potential that would have otherwise remained unused. Similarly, green CO2 can be extracted and liquefied during biogas upgrading to replace fossil-produced CO2, e.g., within the food industry.
A robust hydrogen economy has incredible decarbonization potential, however, it is currently hampered by high production costs and legal uncertainty, greatly impacting the price of green hydrogen. NEUMAN & ESSER is, therefore, focused on continuous optimization to bring the costs down. This focus spans the improvement of individual components such as electrolyzers, compressors, storage tanks, and refueling station systems, as well as system interconnections and overall system architecture.
Currently, there are numerous national and international projects, testbeds, and coordination initiatives working on the improvement of the electrolysis technology which consider smart system coupling and co-production of, e.g., O2, heat, and purified water. Such synergies can be created and reduce the indirect costs to produce H₂ in an integrated plant. In the field of mobility, however, hydrogen is already more than competitive with fossil fuels using an optimized plant design and considering greenhouse gas quotas.
NEUMAN & ESSER is leading the way in synergistical system design with the H2HS project by cooperating with a large consortium at the Heinsberg (HS)-Oberbruch industrial park to construct a full-scale hydrogen plant for decarbonization. The main customers for green hydrogen are the local public transport system and industrial users. In addition, a strategy was developed to use the waste heat from hydrogen electrolysis to feed into the district heating network and supply nearby residential neighborhoods. To maximize the impact of green gases in production processes, new material flows, and production cycles must be created. This is NEUMAN & ESSER’s daily business.