Featured Publications Q1-2026

Procedia CIRP (32nd CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering (LCE2025)) | Volume 135 | 2025 | Pages 396-402

Marie Fischer, Wilson Charles Kumar Joseph, Nikolas Hagemann, Sina Herceg, Mathias Drews, Saskia Kühnhold-Pospischil

Negative emission technologies (NETs) are becoming increasingly important, as they enable the permanent removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere and thus form an essential component of the technology mix for achieving so called net-zero. To assess the climate impact of these technologies consistent and transparent life cycle assessment (LCA) is required. This is particularly important as the available technologies differ significantly with regard to their co-products such as heat and electricity. In this publication, a comparative LCA is carried out for Pyrolysis Carbon Capture and Storage (PyCCS), biogas-based Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), and Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS). The functional unit underlying this comparison is 1 t of CO₂ that is captured and stored. In particular, the influence of different allocation methods on this comparison is examined. 

The study makes it clear that allocation decisions fundamentally shape the results of this comparison. At the same time, it should be noted that allocation does not change the actual emissions but merely redistributes them between CO₂ capture and co-products. Sensitivity analyses also show that the use of renewable electricity and assumptions regarding CO₂ capture rates in BECCS can likewise influence the results. Consequently, a high level of transparency and, in the long term, a standardization of allocation methods for NETs is recommended in order to enable robust comparisons between technologies.

Applied Energy | Volume 402, Part A | 15 December 2025 | 126884

Michelle Antretter, Paula Oberfeier, Arne Surmann, Mirko Schäfer, Matthias Kühnbach

This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the economic and technical potential of combining bidirectional battery electric vehicle (BEV) fleets and stationary battery storage (SBS) in three commercial sectors: manufacturing, office, and healthcare/social services. Using a simulation-based optimization framework, different fleet sizes, storage sizes, and charging strategies (unidirectional, controlled, and bidirectional) are compared.

The results show that bidirectional BEV fleets can partially or completely replace SBS in certain use cases and enable significant cost savings, particularly in office buildings, through increased self-consumption rates and optimized electricity procurement. In manufacturing, combinations of SBS and BEV fleets are particularly attractive for peak shaving. However, economic efficiency depends heavily on the specific use case, fleet size, investment timing, and general conditions.

Conclusion: It is not possible to make a general recommendation for simultaneous investment in SBS and bidirectional fleets. Rather, individual analyses are necessary for specific locations and usage scenarios. The simulation framework developed provides an informed basis for making a decision. 

Bidirectional fleets could make a big difference in helping companies be more flexible and reduce costs in the future– as long as the regulatory and economic conditions are conductive.

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | Volume 202 | 21 January 2026 | 153053

Linda Ney, Nathalie Göttlicher, Richard Lohmann, Markus Klawitter, Jakob Hog, Neethu Philip Thombra, Zohreh Kiaee, Isabell Kegel, Jürg Schleuniger, Roman Keding

For a sustainable and environmentally friendly energy transition, the development of alternative energy conversion technologies for mobile applications is of central importance. The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell with its high power density and low operating temperature is one of the most promising technologies for converting chemical energy into electrical energy.

The production of these PEM fuel cells faces the challenge of reducing costs and scaling up manufacturing processes in order to enter the market with higher production volumes. This study investigates printing technologies for the fabrication of catalyst-coated membranes in PEM fuel cells, comparing established flatbed screen printing with rotary screen printing. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first application of rotary screen printing technology for the fabrication of catalyst layers in PEM fuel cells. Rotary screen printing offers the intrinsic advantage of enabling intermittent coating and patterning within a continuous roll-to-roll process, thereby facilitating high-throughput production of catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs).

In addition, a proof of concept is demonstrated for the fabrication of electrode structures with line widths down to 100 μm using an industrial screen printer. These electrode structures could be employed to further optimize catalyst utilization. Electrochemical characterization of the flatbed and rotary screen-printed fuel cells revealed comparable performance; consequently, this study establishes rotary screen printing as an additional printing technology for PEM fuel cells with very high throughput potential, particularly in combination with roll-to-roll machinery.

Resources, Conservation and Recycling | Volume 212 | January 2025 | 107948

Estelle Gervais, Benjamin Sprecher, Sebastian Nold, Peter Brailovsky, René Kleijn

This paper presents a methodology to assess the supply risk exposure of countries in different supply diversification scenarios – business-as-usual, reshoring, friendshoring. For each scenario, the propagation of three types of upstream disruptions – supply shortage, export restriction, bilateral trade conflict – is simulated. Diversifying supply through reshoring and friendshoring is increasingly proposed as a key strategy for supply security. Reshoring is the focus of the US Inflation Reduction Act, the Indian Production Linked Incentive scheme, and the European Net Zero Industry Act, which all aim at boosting domestic production for strategic goods. Friendshoring encourages trade partnerships with like-minded countries and is also on the political agenda of major economies, although the practicalities of identifying friendly countries are unclear. Studies quantifying to what extend diversification shields countries from supply disruptions are also scarce. 

The developed python-based model is illustrated with the case of global silicon supply chains for PV, from quartz mining to module installation. As a result, dependencies in PV supply chains causing important disruption cascading effects are identified and the risk mitigation potential of diversification is quantitatively discussed.

Overall, this paper underlines the need for supply risk research to nuance diversification recommendations. It would be particularly helpful to improve indicators accounting for a region’s technical and economic ability to supply a given product, and to realistically model the challenges of reshoring.