AKROS Energy Opens Pilot Plant for Salt-Based Hydrogen Storage Technology
AKROS Energy GmbH has officially inaugurated its pilot plant for chemical hydrogen storage at the H2APEX facility in Laage near Rostock, marking a major milestone in the company’s efforts to commercialize alternative hydrogen transport and storage technologies. The inauguration ceremony, held on May 5, 2026, brought together representatives from industry leaders Evonik and Siemens, along with research and development partners involved in the publicly supported FormaPort project.
The launch represents a significant step forward for AKROS Energy as it transitions from the research and development phase into early market deployment. The company’s technology is designed to address one of the most pressing challenges facing the emerging global hydrogen economy: how to safely, efficiently, and economically transport hydrogen over long distances while maintaining scalability for industrial demand.
Hydrogen is widely regarded as a critical component of the global energy transition because it can help decarbonize industries such as steelmaking, chemicals, transportation, and heavy manufacturing. However, transporting hydrogen remains difficult and expensive due to its physical properties. Conventional methods, including liquefied hydrogen and compressed gas systems, often require complex infrastructure, high energy input, and stringent safety measures. AKROS Energy believes its salt-based hydrogen carrier technology could provide a simpler and more practical alternative.
Johannes Emigholz, Chief Executive Officer of AKROS Energy, said the inauguration demonstrates that the company’s technology has advanced beyond laboratory testing and is now capable of operating at industrial scale.
“With the pilot plant, we are showing that our technology works at industrial scale,” Emigholz said during the ceremony. “Salt as a hydrogen carrier offers a safe, low-cost and infrastructure-light pathway to bring hydrogen from regions where it can be produced abundantly to the industrial markets that need it.”
The pilot facility centers on a containerized conversion system that uses AKROS Energy’s proprietary catalyst technology. In the process, an aqueous solution of potassium bicarbonate (KHCO₃), a material commonly used in industrial applications and widely recognized as baking powder, is combined with hydrogen to create potassium formate (KCOOH). This chemical conversion effectively binds hydrogen within a stable salt compound that can be transported and stored much more easily than gaseous or liquid hydrogen.
According to the company, the resulting hydrogen-loaded salt offers several practical advantages. The material is stable, non-toxic, non-flammable, and environmentally safe. It can also be stored indefinitely without significant losses, eliminating many of the technical and logistical complications associated with conventional hydrogen storage systems.
At the destination point, the chemical process can be reversed, allowing hydrogen to be released when needed for industrial or energy applications. This reversible reaction creates what AKROS Energy describes as a circular hydrogen transport system that avoids the need for expensive cryogenic infrastructure or high-pressure transport equipment.
The technology is particularly relevant for international hydrogen trade routes. Many countries and regions expected to become major hydrogen exporters, including areas with abundant renewable energy resources, are geographically distant from industrial demand centers in Europe and Asia. Transporting hydrogen efficiently from production hubs to consuming markets is considered essential for the development of a competitive global hydrogen economy.
AKROS Energy believes its salt-based carrier system can help overcome these logistical barriers by enabling hydrogen to move through existing transportation networks more safely and economically. Because the loaded salt does not require extreme pressure or ultra-low temperatures, it could potentially be transported using conventional shipping, rail, or trucking infrastructure.
The pilot project was developed with strong support from industrial and academic partners. Specialty chemicals company Evonik and technology group Siemens played key roles in scaling up the system and supporting engineering development for the facility. Both companies have worked with AKROS Energy over an extended period as the technology evolved from concept to pilot-scale implementation.
The pilot plant also serves as the centerpiece of the FormaPort research and development initiative, a publicly co-funded collaboration focused on advancing hydrogen carrier technologies. The project receives backing from the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and is co-financed by the European Union.
FormaPort brings together several research and industrial organizations, with AKROS Energy acting as the lead partner. Other participants include LIKAT, TAB, and Hochschule Wismar, each contributing expertise in catalysis, engineering, process optimization, and applied research.
The involvement of academic and public-sector institutions highlights the growing interest across Europe in developing alternative hydrogen storage and transport solutions. Governments and industry stakeholders increasingly recognize that hydrogen infrastructure will require multiple complementary technologies to support future energy systems.
The opening of the pilot plant comes at a time when Europe is accelerating investments in hydrogen production, infrastructure, and import strategies. The European Union has set ambitious targets for renewable hydrogen deployment as part of its broader decarbonization agenda, including efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen energy security.
A major challenge for policymakers and industry participants is establishing reliable supply chains capable of delivering hydrogen at competitive costs. Technologies that simplify transportation and storage are expected to play a crucial role in achieving those objectives.
AKROS Energy’s approach differs from several other hydrogen carrier concepts currently under development. Some competing technologies rely on liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), ammonia, or methanol to transport hydrogen. While these systems also aim to improve hydrogen logistics, each comes with trade-offs related to toxicity, energy requirements, infrastructure complexity, or conversion efficiency.
By using potassium-based salts, AKROS Energy aims to provide a carrier solution that minimizes safety risks while leveraging materials already widely used in industrial applications. The company says this could simplify regulatory approval processes and reduce operational costs compared to more hazardous carrier systems.
The containerized design of the pilot facility also reflects a broader industry trend toward modular hydrogen infrastructure. Modular systems can be deployed more flexibly across different locations and scaled incrementally as demand grows. This approach may be particularly useful for ports, industrial clusters, and distributed hydrogen supply networks.
The H2APEX site in Laage was selected as the location for the pilot because of its growing role in Germany’s hydrogen ecosystem. The region around Rostock has emerged as an important center for renewable energy and hydrogen innovation, supported by strong industrial infrastructure and access to transportation networks.
Industry observers see projects like the AKROS pilot as essential for validating emerging hydrogen technologies under real-world operating conditions. Demonstrating stable performance at pilot scale is considered a critical step before commercial deployment can proceed.
AKROS Energy has indicated that the next phase of development will focus on expanding operational testing, optimizing efficiency, and preparing for larger-scale commercial applications. The company also plans to continue working closely with industrial customers and infrastructure partners to evaluate deployment opportunities across international hydrogen supply chains.
As global demand for low-carbon hydrogen continues to rise, technologies capable of solving transport and storage challenges are expected to become increasingly important. The successful launch of AKROS Energy’s pilot plant signals growing momentum behind alternative hydrogen carrier solutions that could help accelerate the commercialization of the hydrogen economy while supporting long-term decarbonization goals.
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