Synthetic fuel from the offshore wind farm
The first offshore facility for synthetic fuel production was inaugurated as part of the H2Mare hydrogen flagship project of the Federal Government
Grid-independent, modular and seaworthy: the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and partners want to produce synthetic fuels from wind energy, seawater and ambient air on a floating platform in the H2Mareproject PtX-Wind. A corresponding modular system has been installed on a barge and is ready for operation in Bremerhaven. It will produce fuel directly at sea off Helgoland for the first time this year.
On July 8, 2025, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space's hydrogen flagship project H2Mareopened the world's first floating test platform to demonstrate a complete Power-to-X process chain for synthetic fuels. "We want to run through the entire planning process from approval to construction and operation of the plant in reality in order to be able to create concepts for the construction of larger production platforms," said Professor Roland Dittmeyer, Head of the Institute of Micro Process Engineering at KIT and coordinator of the H2Mareproject PtX-Wind, in which the practical test is being carried out, at the opening in Bremerhaven.
Fuels from wind, water and air
The innovative modular plant uses wind energy, seawater and ambient air to produce synthetic fuels. Accordingly, the H2Mare testplatform has its own direct air capture (DAC) system to extractCO2 from the ambient air, a seawater desalination plant and a high-temperature electrolysis system to produce hydrogen-containing synthesis gas. This is used as a starting material for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, in which green hydrogen andCO2 are converted into fuels. The modular design enables dynamic, grid-independent operation of the entire process chain, adapted to the availability of renewable electricity from offshore wind power.
Offshore use from July 2025
From July 2025, the researchers will initially test the platform in the port of Bremerhaven and then on the open sea off Helgoland. In addition to the flexible operation of the entire process chain, they also want to investigate the maritime influences and material properties as well as regulatory conditions in real operation without a connection to the power grid. The knowledge gained will serve as a basis for the development of larger production platforms that can be coupled with wind turbines.
In addition to the offshore production of synthetic fuels, the H2Mareproject PtX-Wind is researching other Power-to-X synthesis routes. Researchers at KIT are investigating the production of liquid methane, methanol and ammonia.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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