Funded Projects
Our employees at more than 44 R&D centers around the world develop new products, technologies, processes, and methods for solutions that are tailored to the market. Some of the numerous research projects are supported with national and European funding. The research results achieved in the funded projects form the basis for further R&D activities.
Develop a technology for the sustainable electrochemical production of formaldehyde from CO₂ and water
The project "DIAMOND - Boron-doped diamond electrodes for the paired electrosynthesis of sustainable platform chemicals" started on April 1, 2024. The kickoff meeting took place in Herzogenaurach at Schaeffler.
The chemical industry faces the challenge of replacing fossil energies and resources with renewable energies and sustainable carbon raw materials such as CO2 and biomass in the future, while at the same time maintaining security of supply for chemicals and materials. The DIAMOND project therefore aims to develop a technology for the sustainable electrochemical production of formaldehyde from CO2 and water. Formaldehyde is an important platform chemical that has so far been produced by selective catalytic oxidation of methanol.
In order to realize the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formaldehyde economically and on an industrial scale, cathodes and anodes made of commonly available elements are required that are both long-lived and selective for the desired electrochemical conversions in order to minimize efficiency losses. In addition, products with high value-added potential must be generated at the anode. DIAMOND aims to achieve this through the oxidative valorization of bio-based acids.
DIAMOND brings together a highly qualified consortium of partners in the Netherlands and Germany, consisting of academic institutions (RWTH Aachen University, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems, University of Twente, University of Groningen), technology providers (DiaCCon, Schaeffler) and end users of the technology (Shell). DIAMOND is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Dutch Research Council NWO with €1.9 million for 4 years.
New manufacturing approaches for hydrogen electrolysers
HERAQCLES stands for new manufacturing approaches for Hydrogen Electrolysers to provide Reliable AEM technology-based solutions while achieving Quality, Circularity, low LCOH, high Efficiency and Scalability.
M12 consortium meeting in Athens
The M12 progress meeting for the EU funded project HERAQCLES project took place on June 26th and 27th 2024 at the facilities of Monolithos Catalysts & Recycling Ltd. in Athens. In this hybrid meeting, partners participated both onsite and online to discuss the significant advancements of the project. During this productive session, insightful discussions were held, and innovative ideas were worked on.
HERAQCLES partners were able to experience a live demonstration of Monolithos hydrometallurgical leching method for recycling electrocatalysts from AEM electrolyser´s membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), ensuring perspectives for second-life application.
HERAQCLES is a joint project, funded by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, coordinated by Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG that gathers research partners to other industrial ones:
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)
- VITO – Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (Belgium)
- Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin (France)
- HYGEAR B.V. (Netherlands)
- MONOLITHOS Catalysts and Recycling Ltd (Greece)
- Exentis Technology GmbH (Germany)
- John Cockerill Hydrogen (Belgium)
The experienced consortium brings together a unique combination of know-hows and manufacturing capabilities provided by strong representation from industrial partners. Project HERAQCLES has the ambition to deliver an operational 25kW electrolyser stack by 2027, including balance-of-plant based on AEM technology to validate both our novel design-for-manufacturing architecture and innovative components developed for automated production processes. AEM electrolysis offers a more attractive cost/performance ratio compared to state-of-art PEM electrolysis because these is no need to utilise precious group metals in stack components like catalysts, porous transport layers and bipolar plates for generating hydrogen at reasonably high current density.
Acknowledgment of funding
This project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (now Clean Hydrogen Partnership) under Grant Agreement No 101111784. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research.
Reducing bearing damage in the drive train of wind turbines
Increasing the reliability of the wind turbines by reducing bearing damage is the main objective of the funding project. The long-term objective is to establish “WEA-Lagerzentrum.NRW”, a wind turbine bearing center in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The cost-effectiveness of power generation from wind energy can be increased by improving the costly repair and maintenance work required as a result of premature rolling bearing damage. As part of the proposed project, two globally unique bearing test rigs will be constructed; one for planetary gear bearings and the other for high-speed shaft bearings in output shafts. The test rigs will approve wind turbine original rolling bearings under realistic operating conditions. The required test rigs are designed to analyze insufficiently explored damage phenomenon.
A list of requirements is currently being created for the development of the test rigs. In the next step, the test rigs will be constructed in the hardware implementation phase and put into operation.
This project will be supported with funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).