Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT

Director: Prof. Dr. Frank Henning

Contact: Ivica Kraljevic

The use of wind energy, prospectively in combination with photovoltaics, allows us to operate our main campus with over 100 laboratories, pilot plants and test centres on 21 hectares of land in Pfinztal near Karlsruhe in an increasingly climate-neutral way. Our research orientation enables us to combine research and development work in this sector with large-scale demonstrators on our campus.

In our research orientation, we place great emphasis on the scalability of processes and the transfer of research results from laboratory scale to pilot plant scale to pre-series applications. We currently employ about 540 people. Our main campus is on the Hummelberg in Pfinztal near Karlsruhe. The "Drive Systems" department and various engine and exhaust test benches are located at the East Campus of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT.

A sustainable and affordable energy supply and the efficient use of energy are the focal points of current research policy with the aim of completing the energy transition and phasing out fossil fuels. Within the core competence “energy systems” we work on electrical energy storage devices for mobile and stationary systems, on fuel cells and electrolysis and on heat and material energy storage systems, their applications and the functional safety of the systems. Within this core competence, our institute has accumulated more than 30 years of scientific know-how, laying the foundations for the development of efficient and cost-effective storage devices and converters.

The core competence “chemical processes” comprises the ability to design and implement innovative, resourcesaving chemical and technical processes from the laboratory through to the technical scale. It covers the entire process chain from raw material processing, chemical reaction control, purification and separation technologies through to subsequent process steps such as product refinement (e.g. crystallization) and shaping.

Since 1994 Fraunhofer ICT has been researching technical plastics for practical use within its core competence of “polymer engineering”. Our work ranges from polymer synthesis, materials technology, plastics processing, component development and production through to recycling.

Based on decades of experience, Fraunhofer ICT is the only German research institute that covers the entire development chain from the raw product to the system prototype in the development of propellants and high explosives. The institute supports the German Federal Ministry of Defence, the public sector and industrial customers in investigating current challenges concerning national and international security.