Trigona is able to meet a wide variety of customer requirements. Whether research, planning, development, exclusive syntheses, production under license or as a contract manufacturer - everything is possible. The ownership of processes and / or equipment can be contractually regulated in a wide range of ways. Our production lines macromer and fuel cell components as well as various synthesis products from the development illustrate the variety of cooperation possibilities with Trigona.

On behalf of BASF, Trigona produces the high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane CELTEC® based on polybenzimidazole.

In contrast to conventional low-temperature polymer electrolyte membranes, the CELTEC® membrane can be operated as a high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane at 160 °C. When used in fuel cells, this results in a higher tolerance of the electrodes to carbon monoxide, which allows the use of reformed hydrogen. Another advantage of systems with the CELTEC® membrane is that they do not need to be humidified or actively cooled. By eliminating costly and fault-prone components, the CELTEC® membrane can be used to build leaner systems with greater stability.

Fuel cells with our membranes are often used in emergency power systems to ensure an uninterruptible and fail-safe power supply or as a supplement to an internal combustion engine. The CELTEC® membrane from BASF is used, for example, in commercial vehicles at airports and as a decentralized power supply on ships and in hotel complexes.

Another use of the CELTEC® membrane is the electrochemical purification of hydrogen. This is a by-product of various processes in the chemical industry and currently needs to be cleaned with high energy requirements. The goal is to use the new technology to reduce energy consumption and at the same time achieve better purification.

For these or other applications it is possible to explore customer-specific new membrane generations and to develop them to marketability.

Our production plant for the production of the CELTEC® membrane and new membrane developments has a permit according to BImSchG.

MEA Manufacture

On behalf of BASF Trigona assembles small series of Celtec MEAs. The MEA (Membrane Electrode Assemblies) is a compressed unit of anode, membrane, cathode and gaskets. In a fuel cell, the MEAs are used in the form of stacks. By using punches, presses, cutting plotters and milling machines, individual MEA design specifications can be implemented by end customers.

Trigona exclusively produces a macromer on a multi-ton scale for a customer.

This product was the result of joint research between Trigona and the customer. Trigonas early work focused on the optimization of the individual synthesis steps with the help of structure determination and reaction kinetics. Based on this, scale-up tests were carried out and the production process was developed. After process optimization, the design of an efficient production plant was carried out. For the operation of this plant, Trigona successfully passed a licensing procedure in accordance with BImSchG.

Because of the high quality requirements, the entire process takes place under GMP-compliant conditions. Much of the analytical method development and associated validation was done by Trigona.

Another production plant was set up at Synpura GmbH in Frankfurt.

back