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In order to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality, hydrogen generated from renewable sources will play an important role. Additionally, as underlined in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), new technologies to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere are required on a large scale. A novel concept for hydrogen production with net negative emissions referred to as HyBECCS (Hydrogen Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage) combines these two purposes in one technological approach. The HyBECCS concept combines biohydrogen production from biomass with the capture and storage of biogenic carbon dioxide. Various technology combinations of HyBECCS processes are possible, whose ecological effects and economic viability need to be analyzed in order to provide a basis for comparison and decision-making. This paper presents fundamentals for the techno-economic and environmental evaluation of HyBECCS approaches. Transferable frameworks on system boundaries as well as emission, cost, and revenue streams are defined and specifics for the application of existing assessment methods are elaborated. In addition, peculiarities concerning the HyBECCS approach with respect to political regulatory measures and interrelationships between economics and ecology are outlined. Based on these considerations, two key performance indicators (KPIs) are established, referred to as levelized cost of carbon-negative hydrogen (LCCNH) and of negative emissions (LCNE). Both KPIs allow deciding whether a specific HyBECCS project is economically viable and allows its comparison with different hydrogen, energy provision, or negative emission technologies (NETs).

A sustainable design of production systems, both within and beyond company boundaries, is essential for the future viability of the process industry. In this context, the concept of ultra-efficiency has recently been developed, aiming at achieving holistic improvements in the fields of action energy and material efficiency, emission reduction, organization, human and staff, with the goal of establishing a positive impact factory. In this paper, the concept developed mainly for the discrete manufacturing industry is transferred to the process industry. It is put into the scientific sub context and elementary approaches, methods and strategies for factory planning and design of production processes in the process industry are summarized.

A more efficient use of natural resources is a main task for modern societies. It would both relieve our ecosystem and counteract societal challenges such as emerging resource conflicts. In order to keep up our wealth and well-being, new forms of value creation are needed. They will arise with the biological transformation of value creation, an approach that was systematically analyzed for the German manufacturing industry within the BIOTRAIN project for the first time. Based on a Delphi approach, 123 high-ranking experts were interviewed and workshops with more than 200 participants were conducted. In this paper, we outline potential fields of action for research and development. Thereby, we distinguish between three major domains: optimization solutions, based on bioinspired algorithms (e.g. evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence), which mainly affect product flows and production organization, the shift of exhausting, fossil to additive, bio-based manufacturing technologies as well as the development of biointelligent manufacturing cells, which will lead to a completely new form of value creation. The results presented here are the base for a comprehensive transformation program planned by the German government.

Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung verändert etablierte Wertschöpfungssysteme der industriellen Produktion bereits heute massiv. Es wird aber mehr und mehr offensichtlich, dass die Einführung von Cyber-Physischen Systemen zur Vernetzung industrieller Produktionsressourcen nicht ausreicht, um essenzielle Herausforderungen der Gesellschaft zu meistern. Die Ressourcenverknappung, der Klimawandel, die veränderte Rolle des Menschen in der Gesellschaft und am Arbeitsplatz, aber auch die Komplexität in Unternehmen mit neuen Geschäftsmodellen erfordern die ergänzende systematische Anwendung von Wissen über natürliche Prozesse. Die Natur kann bei der Optimierung der industriellen Leistungserstellung Pate stehen. Die sogenannte Biologische Transformation der industriellen Wertschöpfung, ein neues Paradigma, das die Digitale Transformation im Rahmen von Industrie 4.0 ergänzen soll, wird Biointelligente Systeme erfordern. Die Fraunhofer Gesellschaft hat, gefördert vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), in diesem Zusammenhang die hier ausschnitthaftpräsentierte Voruntersuchung BIOTRAIN durchgeführt.

Since the first industrial revolution manufacturing systems have been considered well-defined socio-technological entities that extract resources from the natural environment in order to create goods for the satisfaction of human needs. Productivity gains stimulated by technological innovations such as electricity and computers are inherent to the system. Whilst digitization depicts the latest paradigm, other technology leaps have virtually been neglected in traditional manufacturing science: biomimetics and biotechnology. In this context, we present the concept of a biointelligent industry outlining the vision of a naturally consistent subsistence strategy. Future industrial activities are expected to no longer extract resources from the environment but apply nature as a manufacturing utility. From a scientific point of view many issues, however, remain unanswered. In this paper we thus present fundamentals of a biological transformation from a manufacturing standpoint based on recent research. Thereby we define this novel field of research, discuss its impact on traditional patterns of thought, provide a selection of technology, process and system examples, and present 10 fields action in terms of future research, industrial investment, policy initiatives, and societal involvement. The paper sets the basis for extensive further research and discussion within the manufacturing community.