BASF SE has received a funding commitment from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) and the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This means that the Hy4Chem-EI project is now entering the next phase: In cooperation with Siemens Energy, the chemical company is building a 54 MW PEM electrolyzer at its site in Ludwigshafen.
Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the BMWK, presented the corresponding funding decision to Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner, a member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and the site manager of the Ludwigshafen plant, in the presence of Malu Dreyer, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate. Together with the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the project will receive funding of €124.3 million.
Franziska Brantner described the project as a "pioneering project in the decarbonization of the chemical industry" when handing over the funding decision.
According to the chemical company BASF, which has previously been known for its fuel cell production among other things, the PEM electrolyzer will have an output of 54 MW and produce up to 8,000 tons per year. The Group plans to use the hydrogen produced primarily as a raw material for the production of other chemicals. It will also be partially available for mobility applications in the Rhine-Neckar region.
Commissioning of the electrolyzer in 2025
Hydrogen is the starting point for important chemical value chains. According to the company, it requires around 250,000 tons per year at its Ludwigshafen site. The hydrogen is currently produced using steam reforming or as a by-product. However, the conventional production process is associated with high CO2 emissions. By using electrolysis to produce hydrogen, BASF hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the site by up to 72,000 tons per year.
BASF and Siemens Energy plan to commission the plant in 2025. In addition to electrolysis, the company is also open to other technologies for the production of low-emission or emission-free hydrogen, such as methane pyrolysis.
BASF has set itself the goal of achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The Ludwigshafen site plays a central role in this: at the main plant, the company is testing and developing various technologies with which the use of fossil fuels is to be reduced and replaced by the use of renewable electricity. This includes, for example, the demonstration plant for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces and a test plant for methane pyrolysis.
