Concept of a bidirectional Power-to-X Process System for technical and economical Investigations of Conversion and Storage Technologies

Due to the changing energy market with more volatile energy sources and less fossil energy, the interdependency of future energy supply systems has to be investigated. With a higher amount of renewable volatile energy sources, efficient storage and converter technologies for a combined grid system comprising the electrical, chemical and thermal domains are required for future energy systems. To investigate the efficiency, dynamics and component-interactions of such a combined grid system, a concept of an experimental bidirectional Power-to-X process technology is proposed in this contribution. The concept of the Power-to-X process system comprises different technologies for the bidirectional conversion of electrical energy into chemical energy. The research by this system would concentrate on the production, storage and processing of hydrogen which includes fuel-cells and electrolyzes for the direct electrochemical conversion of hydrogen as well as synthesis technologies for the conversion of hydrogen into substances with higher volumetric energy densities like methanol and methane. By the projected experimental system, different combinations of the considered technologies could be investigated with respect to technical and economic aspects.