Annual meeting of the Burghausen real-world laboratory: Rohrdorf’s net zero emissions team presents research findings

Rohrdorf, March 11, 2026 – On March 4, the third annual meeting of the “H2 Real-World Laboratory Burghausen – ChemDelta Bavaria” took place in Burghausen. The research project has set itself the goal of transforming the chemical industry into a sustainable hydrogen-based chemistry in seven work packages. The Rohrdorf Net Zero Emission Team is the project manager of work package 6 “CO2 direct electrolysis to green ethylene.”

Carbon dioxide is converted into green ethylene

At the meeting, representatives of the 35 research partners from industry and science presented the results of their work. Alexander Beck, chemical engineer in Rohrdorfer’s Net Zero Emission team, explained the current status of work package 6 in his presentation. In this package, Rohrdorfer and its partners are demonstrating how carbon dioxide (CO2) from cement kiln gases can be used to produce green ethylene. Ethylene is a sought-after and extremely versatile product. It is the starting material for many substances such as polymers, kerosene, resins, silicones, and textiles. Using an innovative CO2 direct electrolysis process developed by Rohrdorfer together with its project partners, ethylene can be recovered from the unavoidable CO2 emissions of the cement plant.

Successful completion in record time

The successes achieved since the project started in April 2023 are considerable. The operating time of the electrolysis cell has been increased from three hours to up to 100 hours. In addition, the surface area of the cell has already been increased tenfold. With a further step towards the final cell size, ethylene production of up to around 1 kg per day will be possible during the project period. Due to the great progress made, project partner Fraunhofer UMSICHT is already in the starting blocks for the production of the prototype electrolysis cell. The final plant for the electrolysis of CO2 to ethylene is to be built in Rohrdorf from May 2026 and will start operation in the fall. “With this project and thanks to the good cooperation with the project partners, we will be one of the first teams to succeed in representing the entire process chain from cement flue gas to green ethylene,” says Alexander Beck happily. “The green ethylene can be used as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels in the chemical industry in Burghausen.”

The overall project is being funded with over €40 million by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and will run for four years. The funding for work package 6 amounts to €1.44 million.