“Development aid worker” for green hydrogen: Jonas Weiß awarded two prizes

Flensburg, 22/07/2024: We are very proud that our research assistant Jonas Weiß was awarded two prizes for his bachelor thesis. Firstly, he was awarded the Dr.-Hans-Adolf-Rossen-Preis by the Pressestiftung Flensburg Pressestiftung Flensburg (Flensburg Press Foundation) at the IHK Flensburg (Flensburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce). Next came the Hochschulpreis of the VR Bank Nord eG and Flensburg University of Applied Sciences at the graduation ceremony, where Weiß took second place. This makes him the first student in Flensburg to receive both prestigious prizes for his excellent thesis. The supervisors of his thesis, Prof. Dr. Kay Pfaffenberger and Prof. Dr. Stefan Liebing from CBTA, also find this an exceptional achievement.

In his bachelor’s thesis, Weiß dealt with issues concerning the transportation of green hydrogen. Entitled “Power-to-Gas – Eine grundlegende Analyse der wesentlichen Einflussfaktoren des Transports von grünem Wasserstoff im Rahmen der Infrastruktur Deutschlands” (translated “Power-to-Gas – A fundamental analysis of the main factors influencing the transportation of green hydrogen within Germany’s infrastructure”), Weiß looked at the aspects of production, conversion and transportation. A detailed study in which he highlights the advantages of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolysis, among other things. “It is less affected by the fluctuating supply of renewable electricity.” According to Weiß, in most cases the hydrogen produced in this way can be best transported through pipelines as compressed gas. Old natural gas pipelines can be converted for this purpose. For intercontinental transportation, such as imports from Africa, ships with a liquefied synthesis product of hydrogen, like Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) or ammonia, are best suited. In order to better assess the conditions for transport, Weiß has analyzed the political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal framework conditions.

We need this form of energy, but there are still many challenges.

Jonas Weiß

As he was so interested in the topic of green hydrogen, his bachelor’s thesis was easy for him – even though he had to do a lot of research, read studies and structure himself in the best possible way. Pfaffenberger and Liebing agree that he managed to do this very well. “Green hydrogen will make one of the most important contributions to security of supply in Germany. Transportation will play a key role in this. The work presented by Weiß shows that a crucial topic for the future has not only been tackled with a high level of intrinsic motivation, but has also been successfully addressed,” says Pfaffenberger.

After the Bachelor’s thesis is before the Master’s thesis. Jonas Weiß is currently looking for a company where he can work on the topic of – of course – hydrogen. “Because of my specialization, I’m hoping for good job prospects,” says Weiß. With his enthusiasm and drive for research, he can certainly become a “development aid worker” for green hydrogen.

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