23. April 2021

Pilot plant for synthetic fuels started up

The Institute for Energy Systems and Technology of the Technical University of Darmstadt (EST) is focussing on gasification processes to provide co-generation of power and synthetic fuels by using conventional as well as renewable energy resources.

An important milestone in these research activities is the new pilot plant “FABIENE”, which was built by CALORIC and is currently started up. The “FABIENE” project is part of the COORETEC initiative and financially supported by German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi).

With this pilot plant, the development of combined generation of power and synthetic fuels can be progressed to improve conventional power plant concepts in terms of sustainability and efficiency. The co-generation of synthetic fuels or even base chemicals requires multiple syngas treatment units downstream of the gasification process.

The pilot plant is built on an area of approx. 140 m² and is undergoing several floors with the highest point of the plant of about 20 m. For this complex plant, about 1.5 km of piping and more than 520 valves and instruments were installed.

CALORIC as a turnkey supplier was not only responsible for providing the machinery, but also for the face of the housing to implement the pilot plant into the design of the building complex of the Technical University of Darmstadt.