Whether in agriculture, industry or private households, chemicals are needed everywhere. However, their production requires a very large amount of energy. With a new type of hybrid access, energy can be saved in the double-digit percentage range depending on the plant and process. The development took place in the team of Dr. Michael Bortz and Prof. Karl-Heinz Küfer at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, for which they will be awarded the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize.