On September 14, 2022, H&R inaugurated the new Power-to-Liquid (PtL) demonstration plant at the production site of Ölwerke Schindler GmbH. The process facilities will be used to produce synthesis-based alternatives to fossil raw materials. The demonstration project is one of the world's first PtL concepts on a technical scale, supplying so-called eFuels as well as synthetic raw waxes, which will be marketed via the P2X-Europe joint venture of the two partner companies Mabanaft and H&R. The Power-to-Liquid synthesis technology, developed by Karlsruhe-based technology company INERATEC, will in future produce around 200 tons of eFuels for road as well as rail transport and around 150 tons of eWaxes for use in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries.

In contrast to the fossil origin of these raw materials, the PtL process enables the production of synthesis-based hydrocarbons made from sustainable and climate-friendly components. For this purpose, green hydrogen from the electrolysis hydrogen plant commissioned in 2017 is first processed together with biogenic CO2 to produce synthesis gas, from which synthetic hydrocarbons are subsequently produced. The plant is integrated into the network of Norddeutsches Reallabor (NRL), in which 50 partners from different production and consumption sectors are jointly testing new ways to achieve climate neutrality as part of an energy transition alliance.

With the official inauguration of the plant, the NextGate project partners are completing an important part of the commissioning phase, in which all essential systems have already been ramped up and the first batches of synthetic hydrocarbons have been produced. In the coming weeks, operations will be optimized in terms of continuous production.