The Zentrum für BrennstoffzellenTechnik GmbH (ZBT) was founded as fuel cell research centre in 2001 by the State of North-Rhine Westphalia and the European Fund for Regional Development and is located in Duisburg, Germany. Focusing on application-oriented R&D ZBT bridges the gap between basic research at the University and requirements of industry. Today ZBT acts as established partner of industry, research institutions and universities in the field of fuel processing and battery technology as well as novel energy technologies. About 90 full time employees plus students work in seven departments: fuel processing, fuel cells and systems, electrochemistry and coating, micro systems and fluid mechanics, hydrogen and batteries, production technology, quality assurance and testing. ZBT is a non-profit, limited company, CEO is Prof. Dr. Angelika Heinzel and shareholder is the University Duisburg-Essen.

Key personnel:

Dr. Christian Spitta, project manager in the D2Service project is deputy head of department Fuel Processing at ZBT. He has 15 years’ experience and broad knowledge in the fields of fuel processing, hydrogen generation and process development for fuel cell based CHP and power generator systems. He holds a Dr.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany since 2008.

Dipl.-Ing. Carsten Spieker, works as a project engineer in the department of fuel processing at ZBT since 2009 with the focus on fuel processor development for SOFC systems. He studied mechanical engineering at the university of Duisburg-Essen and worked in the department of power engineering of the university Duisburg-Essen until 2009.

Dipl.-Chem. Thomas Optenhostert, works as a project engineer in the department of fuel processing at ZBT since 2008. He studied chemistry at the university Duisburg-Essen with emphasis on physical chemistry and electrochemistry. His main focus is the gas analysis and desulphurization.

ZBT main tasks in the D2Service project:

• Development of a life-time desulphurization based on HDS
• Optimization of the process water treatment
• Qualification and support of reformer optimisation
• Test and validation of the optimized systems