AHK Brazil 4

Hydrogen has great potential as an energy carrier to fundamentally change the future energy supply - in both stationary and mobile applications - and to make an important contribution to decarbonize economic activities in the future. For instance, Germany will invest around €9 billion by 2030, including €2 billion in partner countries, to promote hydrogen imports. The major advantage of hydrogen is that renewable energy can be stored on a large scale and transported over long distances. Brazil has enormous potential to become one of the world's leading producers and exporters of green hydrogen. In this context, a promising market opens up for the involvement of German environmental technologies in the basic sanitation sector, as wastewater treatment plants produce large amounts of wastewater and sewage sludge, which can serve as a raw material for the production of green hydrogen.

The aim of the project is to present possibilities for the production of renewable hydrogen in wastewater treatment plants, taking into account the technical and economic aspects, and to demonstrate the potential for reducing environmental impacts and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. The project addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 "Affordable and clean energy" and number 6 "Clean water and sanitation". For this purpose, the German-Brazilian Chamber of Industry and Commerce - Rio de Janeiro (AHK Rio) will conduct a feasibility study on the technical and economic potential of generating green hydrogen in wastewater treatment plants in Paraná. Based on this study, a business model can be structured to be replicable in the water treatment plants of Paraná and later throughout Brazil (multiplicability), with the aim of modernizing basic sanitation in the country and accelerating the hydrogen market in the country.

In terms of investments int market research, the Brazilian green hydrogen sector is still in its infancy. Currently, most initiatives are focused on developing technologies and processes to build a clean hydrogen production chain in Brazil. This project therefore provides an opportunity for market analysis as well as for finding out how to take advantage of supply and demand opportunities as well as opportunities in the sanitary sector.

The AHK Rio coordinates the project, while the study will be written by the International Center for Renewable Energy - Biogas (CIBiogás) in collaboration with the water supply company Companhia de Saneamento do Paraná (Sanepar).