WACKER Joins Bavarian Hydrogen Alliance

Founded in September 2019, H2.B aims to bring together Bavaria's numerous stakeholders from business, science and politics and help bring hydrogen technologies, especially green hydrogen, into widespread use as a key element of the energy transition. The Hydrogen Alliance Bavaria as part of H2.B, in turn, is a joint networking, knowledge and interest platform of Bavarian hydrogen stakeholders from business, science and politics. It aims to contribute to stronger networking among these hydrogen stakeholders and with other national and international players.

"We are looking forward to exchanging ideas in the hydrogen alliance," said Group CEO Christian Hartel. "For the chemical industry in particular, green hydrogen is a key building block on the road to climate neutrality. As a raw material and energy carrier, it provides the prerequisites for transforming production processes in a CO₂-neutral way. However, the entry into the hydrogen economy can only succeed with large amounts of renewable electricity. Cheap green electricity is the best hydrogen strategy for industry in this transformation step."

In a project named "RHYME Bavaria", WACKER is planning to build a plant complex for producing green hydrogen and renewable methanol at its Burghausen site. Part of the planned complex is a 20-megawatt electrolysis plant that will produce green hydrogen from water and electricity from renewable sources. Another component of the project is a synthesis plant in which the green hydrogen will be processed with carbon dioxide from existing production processes to produce renewable methanol. The capacity of this plant is expected to be 15,000 tons per year.

Both hydrogen and methanol are important basic materials for chemical products, such as silicones. Compared with existing production processes, the new processes would reduce CO₂ emissions by around 80 percent.

Financial support for RHYME Bavaria from the European Union and the German government, which is a mandatory prerequisite for the realization of the project, is currently being examined.