On 28 May 2025, the final project meeting for the ORBIT II research project took place in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm. In addition to presenting the project partners’ work results, the focus was primarily on the integrated operation of the power-to-gas plant at the Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm sewage treatment plant.
After discussing a few organisational issues and the schedule for the remaining tasks for the final weeks of the research project, the project partners presented their work. Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg first demonstrated the remote access to the plant, a database for evaluating the test results, and controls for the ammonium supply and the electrolyser.
OTH Regensburg then presented the test operation with the packing materials from SCHOTT AG. The relocation and integration of ORBIT-Demo into the sewage treatment plant in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm was also presented.
The project partners from the University of Regensburg investigated the microbiological growth on the packing materials. They were able to observe where the co-culture contained in the reactor settles and that both archaeal cultures are connected to each other.
After a lunch break, there was a tour of the plant, during which the interaction between the power-to-gas system and the sewage treatment plant was demonstrated. This provided an ideal transition to an insight into the work of the Pfaffenhofen municipal utilities. The importance of municipal responsibility in the expansion of storage technologies became clear. This also stimulated an exchange on future projects and the possible further development of the technology.
Authors: FENES, Kathrin Rettinger, Michael Heberl