Graforce and Berlin Hotel Launch Negative Emissions Technology

Graforce’s “MOA-H2eat” solution will revolutionize the heating market (Graphic: Business Wire)

Berlin, Germany: 

The Mercure Hotel MOA Berlin is set to become the first hotel and event location worldwide with a negative CO₂ balance when generating heat. Thanks to the methane plasmalysis technology developed by Graforce, the MOA Berlin will not only generate its heat without any emissions. It will also be able to extract CO₂ from the atmosphere – while heating. Thus, the “MOA-H2eat” solution was just awarded with the German Gas Industry Innovation Prize, because of “An approach that revolutionizes the heating market and contributes to decentralized decarbonization,” the jury said.

The MOA Berlin is no longer heating with natural gas but with hydrogen from biogas. The methane plasmalysis technology splits the biogas into hydrogen and solid carbon. Using electricity from renewable energies, methane plasmalysis is just as climate-friendly as electrolysis – but the costs are significantly lower.

For the zero-emission heating process, the MOA Berlin uses modified gas condensing boilers fueled by a mixture of green hydrogen and biogas. The mixing ratio is controlled by the methane plasmalyzer. The heat generation is started with 30 vol.% hydrogen and 70 vol.% biogas. In the following months, the share of hydrogen is gradually increased.

The solid carbon can be used as an industrial raw material, for paints and ceramics or, as in the case of the MOA Berlin, for producing asphalt. Thus, CO₂ is permanently bound. Thus, Graforce offers the worldwide first market-ready technology for CO₂ reduction and a green alternative to the controversial CCS storage.

The gas heaters used at the MOA Berlin before would have emitted up to 800 tons of CO₂ per year. In order to absorb this amount from the atmosphere, the equivalent of more than 65,000 trees is needed.

“In order to counteract global warming, the generation of heat and hot water must be completely CO₂-free by 2050. There are two ways to achieve this: Either we’ll heat with renewable electricity only or we decarbonize the natural gas supply with a carbon-free alternative such as hydrogen,” Graforce founder and CTO Dr. Jens Hanke explains.

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