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IneraTec: greenhouse gases for the production of
synthetic fuels
The founders of the company IneraTec are developing a chemical reactor that can produce
synthetic fuels from a broad range of different gas sources. What is completely new is the
size of the reactor: it is no bigger than a desk. The IneraTec founders have found a way to
design a compact reactor that fits into a container and only needs be connected to a gas
source. At present, the reactor is set up to use methane as a source gas, but it has the
potential to convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen mixtures into fuels at some point in the
future. This, in combination with its decentralised application, gives some idea of the huge
potential of the IneraTec reactor.
The company IneraTec – Innovative Reactor Technology – convinces with its technical knowhow and pioneering idea: "We are planning to manufacture containerised, compact reactor
systems that enable the chemical conversion of methane into fuel," says Phillip Engelkamp,
industrial engineer and one of the co-founders of IneraTec, which will be officially launched in
summer 2015. The founding team consists of Tim Böltken, Paolo Piermartini, Professor Peter
Pfeifer and Phillip Engelkamp, all of whom have a background in industrial engineering.
IneraTec's initial headquarters will be at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which has
been made possible through the Young Innovators programme run by the Baden-Württemberg
Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. "The support from the programme has enabled us
to continue using the outstanding infrastructure at the KIT's Institute for Micro Process
Engineering (IMVT) whilst concentrating on establishing the company," says Engelkamp.
Containerised, chemical production of synthetic fuels
Before they considered establishing a company, the IMVT scientists had all intensively worked
on the ways the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process could be put to good use in converting gases into
fuels. The FT process is a collection of chemical reactions that turns a mixture of carbon
monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) into medium- to long-chain hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons
with a length of 5 to 22 carbon atoms are suitable as liquid fuels such as petrol and diesel.
Further extension of the carbon chain even leads to solid paraffin (waxes).
"The large-scale application of the FT process began in South Africa in the 1950s. My colleague
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and co-founder of IneraTec, Tim Böltken,
studied for a while in South Africa where he
gained useful experience," says Engelkamp. In
Africa, coal is used as feedstock material for
the production of liquid hydrocarbons. The
original FT process was invented by Fischer and
Tropsch in Germany in the 1930s. Natural gas
is now used in place of coal as feedstock for
producing synthetic fuels. In order to make
natural gas suitable for large-scale FT, the
methane (CH4) contained in natural gas needs
to be converted into gaseous reactants, i.e.
carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in a process
known as steam reforming. Carbon monoxide
and hydrogen are then further processed into
synthetic fuels. This method has been used on
a large scale in South Africa since the early
1960s, and predominantly in the Middle East
and Malaysia since the 1990s. "The gigantic
gas-to-liquid plants in such regions are around
half the size of Stuttgart, the sixth largest city
in Germany. And they cost about 35 billion
euros," says Engelkamp.
The IneraTec founders will initially also use
methane-based natural gas as the basis for
synthetic fuel production. Since portable
decentralised reactors are synonymous with
relatively independent production sites, Engelkamp and his colleagues have decided to initially
focus specifically on smaller-scale reactors. "Not all countries have as much coal as countries
like South Africa, or as much natural gas as Qatar. "Our approach enables us to use smaller
gas deposits," says Engelkamp. IneraTec's chemical FT reactor is only as big as a desk, thanks
to a sophisticated and compact design and the possibilities now offered by the fields of
microsystems engineering and microprocess engineering. "The reactor and all other modules
required for the process, including compressors and the gas purification unit, fit easily into a
shipping container," says Engelkamp referring to their invention.
Philipp Engelkamp, industrial engineer and IneraTec's
Managing Director Finance © IneraTec
"Our current approach is based on using methane – for example methane derived from natural
gas – as carbon source. We have chosen the process parameters so that only liquid
hydrocarbon chains – i.e. fuels – are produced. This fuel mixture usually consists of 25 per cent
petrol (C5 to C11 chains), 50 per cent diesel (C5 to C22 chains) and 25 per cent kerosene (C8 to
C 13). The ratio of the chain lengths can be adapted to a certain degree with the application of
the resulting fuels in mind. We can produce up to 8,000 litres of this fuel mixture per day," says
Engelkamp. "At present, the final refining step, i.e. the separation of the fuels, needs to be
done somewhere else, but in theory it is possible to add a small separation system as another
module to the containerised system." IneraTec's modular system costs around 1.25 million
euros per container. "This sounds quite a lot for an initial outlay. However, once sales increase,
we will be able to reduce production costs and make economies of scale," says Engelkamp.
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Enormous potential for the future bioeconomy
IneraTec’s chemical Fischer-Tropsch reactor is only as big as a desk thanks to the sophisticated and compact
design. © IneraTec
The gas-to-liquid FT process requires carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be produced
from methane. However, methane derived from fossil natural gas is not the only feedstock
material that can be used for this purpose. Biogas, which consists of up to 70 per cent methane
, can also be used. Landfill and sewage gases also contain large amounts of the colourless and
odourless gas and could also be used in an IneraTec reactor to produce synthetic fuels using
the FT process. "We are trying to establish a complete value creation chain. And this is where
the flexibility of the reactor pays off. Biogas-derived methane can be purified and processed
directly in the containerised reactor. Since we require between 20 and 100 standard cubic
metres methane per hour, we are looking at farmers' associations and other biogas producers
that are operating old block heat and power stations and who might be interested in
producing their own fuel. Around 600 litres of fuel mixture an hour can be produced from 100
m3 methane," says Engelkamp.
The reactor vision goes even further. "As a disruptive innovation, our technology has the
potential to completely revamp the value chain for fuels," says Engelkamp. There is also the
possibility of producing the methane required with biotechnological methods, i.e. with bacteria
that convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methane and water. In this way, the bacteria
would withdraw the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into a
valuable fuel.
Water electrolysis has the potential of being used for producing the hydrogen required.
However, this approach consumes a lot of energy. If this energy could be produced with solar
cells or wind turbines, water electrolysis would be an outstanding possibility for storing
regenerative energies in the form of fuels. "This is still a vision of the future, but in five to ten
years' time, it could be relevant for our modular approach. We do not want to produce the
gases, but use them. However, a company that is working on the development of a compact
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electrolysis system for the production of hydrogen, would be an exciting strategic partnership
that we would certainly consider," says Engelkamp.
IneraTec interprets the signs of the times. The sense of sustainability and innovative thinking
has never before been so noticeable – both in Baden-Württemberg and throughout Europe. The
company's developments also benefit from new laws and amendments such as Germany's
Renewable Energy Act. "Since the introduction of the Renewable Energy Act in Germany, block
heat and power stations have been receiving fewer subsidies than before. Therefore, fuel
production alternatives such as the one we are developing are becoming increasingly
important. A rethinking is also taking place in the fuel sector, and this will also be to our
advantage. The idea is to reduce the envisaged 10 percent energy crop-derived ethanol part of
the E10 fuel (fuel mixture of 10% anhydrous ethanol and 90% petrol) blend to seven percent,
and replace the remaining three per cent with second-generation fuels. And we are secondgeneration fuel producers," says Engelkamp.
Support to market
IneraTec is employing an award-winning concept. In 2014, the innovative character of the
project also convinced BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg. Back then, one of the IneraTec founders,
Paolo Piermartini, presented the IneraTec concept at the Bioeconomy Conference, which was
jointly organised by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, the
University of Hohenheim and BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg GmbH in Stuttgart. "BIOPRO put us
into contact with interesting people, and we have benefitted enormously from BIOPRO's
assistance and the contacts we made," says Engelkamp. The only thing that is missing before
the founders have a marketable system and can initiate serial production, is producing a
containerised system that they could use to show that the compact process works perfectly
and to demonstrate market maturity.
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Article
18-May-2015
Sanja Fessl
BIOPRO
© BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg GmbH
Further information
Philipp Engelkamp (Managing Director)
IneraTec - Innovative Reactor Technology
Hermann-von-Helmholtz Platz 1
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Gebäude 606
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Phone: +49 (0)721/608 22732
E-mail: philipp.engelkamp(at)ineratec.de
The article is part of the following dossiers
Industrial biotechnology: a challenging change to the raw material base
Biorefinery concepts are close to implementation
Weitere Artikel auf www.bio-pro.de
Auszeichnungen für grüne Start-ups
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