Reducing carbon dioxide emissions while providing heating and cooling for industry: The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is demonstrating how this can work with a new pilot plant. The CoBra high-temperature heat pump is now going into operation.
The DLR Institute ofLow CO2 Industrial Processes in Cottbus (Brandenburg) is working on technologies and solutions for an energy system of the future that is sustainable and in which industrial companies can operate without fossil fuels for their production. The CoBra test facility makes a significant contribution to the heat transition in industry: "We can achieve unprecedented values worldwide for the temperature range and heat output temperature of 300 °C with a heat output of around 200 kilowatts," says Institute Director Prof. Uwe Riedel. In the future, it is planned to go far beyond this: "The DLR heat pumps will reach a temperature range for which there is currently no technical realization. These temperatures are necessary for alow-CO2 conversion of the corresponding industrial processes." The name CoBra is a combination of "Cottbus" and the "Brayton process" of thermodynamics, on which the system is based.
Research drives structural change
The DLR Institute forLow CO2 Industrial Processes has been established at the Cottbus site since July 2019. In close partnership with regional industry and science, employees are developing technologies for low-carbon processes. With its research impulses and innovations, the DLR Institute is one of the most important players in the structural change in the Lusatia region. "With all the problems of our time, it's great to see that we at DLR are contributing to solutions by transferring research to industry. CoBra has the potential to enable massiveCO2 reductions. At the same time, we are creating jobs in the region and maintaining jobs in Germany as a business location by keeping the production of energy-intensive industries competitive through innovation," says Prof. Karsten Lemmer, DLR Executive Board Member for Innovation, Transfer and Scientific Infrastructures.
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions and saving energy
The majority of industries require process heat between 100 and 500 °C. This applies, for example, to the food industry, the paper industry and the chemical industry. If electricity generated from renewable sources is used, high-temperature heat pumps are climate-neutral. At the same time, industrial companies can save energy with high-temperature heat pumps.
The CoBra pilot plant was built within two years, financed with funds from the state of Brandenburg. The DLR primarily selected companies from the region for the preparations and construction of the plant. In the long term, another larger CoBra pilot plant will be developed and built, which will enable even higher temperatures and a higher heat output. The CoBra pilot plant currently uses air as its working medium. However, it can also work with argon gas. The question of how the prototype needs to be scaled up so that it is suitable for as many branches of industry as possible is also at the heart of the research.
DLR Institute forLow CO2 Industrial Processes in Cottbus and Zittau
In addition to Cottbus, the DLR Institute ofLow CO2 Industrial Processes has a second site in Zittau (Saxony). High-temperature heat pumps are also being researched there. The pilot plant ZiRa (the name is a combination of "Zittau" and "Rankine process") is currently under construction. Unlike the CoBra plant, it does not work with air, but with water.
In the Simulation and Virtual Design department in Cottbus, researchers are developing "digital twins" of real plants. They provide insights into how renewable energy sources can replace fossil fuels and how industrial processes can be efficiently coupled with other sectors. To achieve this, solar and wind energy, power plants, storage systems, residential and public buildings and industrial plants need to be networked with each other. The department also supports the development of high-temperature heat pumps.
The Low Carbon Reducing Agents department in Zittau is investigating how chemical processes can be converted in order to avoidCO2 emissions. For example, the use of regeneratively produced hydrogen and other carbon-free energy sources play a role here.
