Coal island without coal: making the port of Duisburg CO₂-neutral

For over 100 years, the Port of Duisburg was one of the most important transshipment points for coal. Today, the port is the world's largest inland container "hub". Where at peak times more than 20 million tons of coal were handled each year, there is now a new, digitally controlled container terminal that is self-sufficient and CO2-neutral in its energy supply. It is not only mtu hydrogen cogeneration plants that are in operation here. 

"The future is being tested here," says Alexander Garbar. The pride is written all over his face. Alexander Garbar is Head of Corporate Development at Duisburger Hafen AG. He is one of the brains behind the innovative energy system of the new container terminal. Together with experts from Rolls-Royce, he came up with the idea of developing a self-sufficient, intelligent and CO2-neutral energy system - not only for the Port of Duisburg, but also as a blueprint for other ports and infrastructure projects.  This idea gave rise to the enerPort II research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The aim is to demonstrate that a port terminal of this size can be operated in a completely CO2-neutral manner with local generation of heat and electricity. 

Today, Alexander Gaber is standing in the control center of the new port terminal and can see on screens how the various energy sources interact with each other. Most of the energy is supplied by solar panels. Surplus energy is stored in an mtu EnergyPack battery container. 

But the sun is not always shining and often the energy from the solar system is not enough. That's when mtu fuel cell systems and mtu hydrogen cogeneration plants come into play. A higher-level control system always ensures the optimum combination of the various systems.  

Microgrid makes port terminal self-sufficient

A concept that works. "Our microgrid runs reliably and shows that it is possible to supply such a large port terminal completely self-sufficiently with green energy. That makes me proud," says Garbar. However, he also adds: "The concept is not yet ready for the market." The technology is there, but unfortunately the green hydrogen to use it is not yet - and if it were, it would be far too expensive. Without funding as part of the research project, it is currently hardly possible to implement the concept economically. 

The hydrogen required to operate the combined heat and power units and fuel cells is delivered to Duisburg by truck. Unfortunately, it is not yet  green, i.e. produced  using electricity from renewable sources.  The plan is for an electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen from 2027. When that happens, the microgrid will be completely CO2-neutral. 

Then the two mtu hydrogen cogeneration units, which are being used in Duisburg for the first time, can also be operated CO2-free. 

Goal: mtu hydrogen engine with over two megawatts of power

The two mtu hydrogen engines now running in Duisburg each have an output of one megawatt. Andrea Prospero is happy with that. The Swabian engineer with the Italian-sounding name developed the engine together with his colleagues. The basis was a mtu gas engine. However, as hydrogen has different physical and chemical properties to natural gas, some adjustments were necessary. 

Andrea Prospero is not only proud that the engine can now finally prove itself in real operation. He is also full of zest for action and sees the potential that the engine still has.  The engine is currently undergoing further development to make it more powerful. "In a few years, we want to go into series production with a hydrogen engine with at least two megawatts of power, which will be the benchmark in terms of efficiency," reveals Prospero. 

Conversion kit for existing gas engines

By then, the demand for hydrogen engines will also increase. They are not yet in demand for the power supply, as they are hardly profitable. This is because green hydrogen is not only expensive, but also difficult to obtain - as the duisport example shows. However, hydrogen projects are on the rise  worldwide. 

Andrea Prospero and his colleagues are therefore also developing a conversion kit for existing mtu gas engines. "With this conversion kit, customers can turn their gas engine into a hydrogen engine, for example as part of a major overhaul, and thus generate  CO2-neutral energy," says Prospero.  TÜV Süd has already certified the H2 readiness of mtu Series 4000 FNER/ FV gas engines .  

Hydrogen engines as a central pillar of the energy transition

But the planning continues. In a consortium with five companies and research institutes, Rolls-Royce engineers are developing the necessary technologies for new, even more powerful and efficient hydrogen combustion engines. As part of the publicly funded Phoenix (Performance Hydrogen Engine for Industrial and X) project, a hydrogen engine is to generate the same electrical and thermal energy as currently available natural gas CHP units in the larger output range (up to 2.5 MW) for the first time.  

"We are convinced that hydrogen combustion engines will become a central pillar of the energy transition," says Tobias Ostermaier, who heads the decentralized energy systems business at Rolls-Royce. "As soon as the availability of green hydrogen is ensured on a large scale, the technology of highly efficient hydrogen block-type thermal power stations promoted in the Phoenix project will be ready for use," he says. 

CO2-neutral self-sufficiency as a competitive advantage

Alexander Garber is also convinced by his project and is proud to be a pioneer. He even goes so far as to say that the energy system, which is already self-sufficient today and will be CO2-neutral in the future, is a major competitive advantage for the Port of Duisburg. "Unfortunately, we live in times in which a self-sufficient energy supply is an important argument for critical infrastructure," he says. The fact that this self-sufficiency will soon also be CO2-neutral is another plus point - and a unique selling point for a port that until recently was all about coal.