ExpectedOutcome:
When produced with renewable or low-carbon energy sources, hydrogen represents a unique opportunity for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive and hard-to-abate industrial sectors where thermal heat is required. This is notably the case for the steel, glass and ceramics sectors. The overall goal of clean heat and power pillar of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA is to support EU supply chain actors to develop a portfolio of solutions providing clean, renewable and flexible heat and power generation for all end users’ needs and across all system sizes, including industrial applications.
Over the past years, some progress has been made in the use of hydrogen in burners and furnaces for heat production, notably for blends of hydrogen and natural gas. Moreover, given the current situation of energy dependence in Europe and geopolitical conflicts, interest in the search for alternatives to fossil fuels has grown enormously, mainly among large energy consumers and energy-intensive industries, including the steel, glass and ceramics sectors.
As the share of hydrogen in the gas grid increases and conversion programmes for 100% hydrogen appear, there will be a need for hydrogen-fired industrial burners and furnaces to provide high temperature heat. Gas burners and furnaces units should be 100% hydrogen ready and fulfil the same NOx emissions standards as gas burners by 2030.
In general, burner technologies provide a unique opportunity to reutilise existing infrastructure, reducing investment costs in new infrastructure and ensuring a cost-competitive transition to renewable gases and zero-carbon power generation. They do not pose strict requirements to fuel gas purity and are able to tolerate traces of other species, enabling therefore the adoption of cost- and energy-effective production and offering hydrogen conversion technologies at large scale.
The vision for 2030 is to have 100% hydrogen ready EU combustion systems fulfilling emission standards, for cleaner and sustainable dispatchable power and high temperature heat. Progressing technology using hydrogen as fuel in intensive industries will promote the commercial viability of hydrogen generation, an important step for the realisation of a circular economy system and sustainable development.
A great challenge in using hydrogen as an energy source is the adaptation of existing industrial plants to this new fuel. Among the technical challenges that hydrogen combustion presents there are its higher flow rate and flame temperature, as well as higher NOx emissions with respect to natural gas, for example, as well as flame invisibility and greater possibility of leakage than for other fuels.
In addition, for the design of the combustion equipment using hydrogen it is important to take into account its low density, so it is important for the design of the burners to control the speed of gas at the injection points and the possible speed of return of the flame. It is also necessary to study the adaptation of the flames in the different hearths of the furnaces to observe the consequences of a flame temperature higher than other gases and the impact in the quality of the products obtained.
This topic aims to contribute to the demonstration and promotion of the use of H2 for thermal use in industries that are hard to abate. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Open a new path for large scale demonstration of H2 technologies in burners and furnaces, allowing their inclusion in wider viable business models, such as hydrogen valleys. This will allow the assurance of H2 supply to the demonstrators and a better integration between H2 production and demand;
- Contributions with a full-scale demonstrator to one of the different energy intensive industrial sectors by 2027;
- New business models for hydrogen-based heat production in energy intensive industries;
- Contributing to EU leadership for next generation hydrogen burners/furnaces solutions based on different technologies that will be applicable for hard to abate and energy intensive industries.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following objectives and KPIs of the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA:
- Understanding the hydrogen combustion mechanism and developing or retrofitting furnaces with combustors and burners respectively able to run on 100% hydrogen whilst respecting the NOx emissions standards;
- Development of specific actions supporting the direct use/storage of hydrogen and, where applicable, oxygen from electrolysis at low pressure for combustion and include also the flexibility of burners towards various fuels (hydrogen, natural gas, ammonia – normally dedicated but not limited to ambient pressure);
- Development of processes and procedures that could develop to industry standards on safety and plant integration and demonstrate the retrofitting of burners so that they are able to run up to 100% H2;
- Development of plant integration processes and procedures that could further develop to industry standards, business models and value chains, incl. retrofitting.
The following KPIs should be therefore addressed:
- 100% fossil fuel substitution;
- NOx emissions equal or below applicable legislation (i.e., for specific region and industry);
- Maintain the quality of the final products (depending on the industrial sector and its standards).
Scope:
The scope of this topic is to develop and validate an integrated hydrogen burner system within heating furnaces in energy intensive industrial applications by retrofitting existing furnaces so that they are able to run on up to 100% hydrogen;
Proposals should address the following:
- Development of pure hydrogen and hydrogen/standard fuel mixtures burner to be integrated in existing furnaces compliant NOx emission standards (industrial scales). Research areas should focus on flame monitoring, optimal mixture formation and impact of buoyancy effects, flame stability & flashback and reduction of emissions. The implementation of the development should be executed on a demonstrator in an operational environment ensuring a TRL 7 at project end. The demonstrator should run for a period of at least 6 months, operating for at least 100h at 100% hydrogen. The furnace thermal output should be of at least 1 MWth.
- Assessment of the impact of the use of hydrogen in its different percentages of substitution for fossil fuels in furnaces and products within different hard to abate application sectors.
- Investigation of the influence of hydrogen and higher gas supply pressures on component tightness.
- Development of concepts for the safe integration of hydrogen in industrial plants in the sectors of application and demonstration of the retrofitting of burners so that they can be operated safely with up to 100% H2 including odorants, colorants and others as applicable.
- The hydrogen-based burner should demonstrate the potential to achieve an equal or improved heating performance (in terms of energy used to heat certain mass/volume).
- Investigations of potential impacts on process performance, equipment operation and maintenance under the presence of hydrogen combustion products (heat exchangers, flame detection, heat recovery technologies, burner nozzles, etc.).
- Integration of hydrogen production units in industrial environments with high temperature processes (waste gases enthalpy content, requirements in terms of hydrogen supply pressure and purity, etc.).
- Techno-economic analysis to replicate the solution to other industrial sites. Study the impact of the H2 cost to the final costs of the final product and impact of CO2 emissions reduction in the final cost of the product (under ETS program).
Applicants should ensure and provide evidence of the availability of hydrogen, as function of the thermal output of the furnace demonstrated.
Proposals are expected to build on previous projects supported by the Clean Hydrogen JUJU. In addition, applicants are encouraged to seek synergies with existing projects of the Horizon Europe Process4Planet and Clean Steel partnerships or future topics. In particular with the view of integrating the developed solution(s) into larger scale, real-life applications. In addition, synergies with hydrogen production topics supported by the JU in the current call (such as HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023-01-07: ‘Hydrogen use by an industrial cluster via a local pipeline network’) maybe considered for the hydrogen supply during demonstrator tests.
Applicants are encouraged to address sustainability and circularity aspects in the activities proposed.
This topic is expected to contribute to EU competitiveness and industrial leadership by supporting a European value chain for hydrogen and fuel cell systems and components.
Proposals should provide a preliminary draft on ‘hydrogen safety planning and management’ at the project level, which will be further updated during project implementation.
Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.
At least one partner in the consortium must be a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research.
The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 6.00 million – proposals requesting Clean Hydrogen JU contributions above this amount will not be evaluated.
Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must be declared as depreciation costs. However, for the following equipment, infrastructure or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks): hydrogen burner and related components needed to integrate it in existing burners/furnaces including hydrogen storage and feed, costs may exceptionally be declared as full capitalised costs.
The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2023 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023–2024 which apply mutatis mutandis.
Specific Topic Conditions:
Activities are expected to start at TRL 5 and achieve TRL 7 by the end of the project - see General Annex B.
