France | A 100% hydrogen gas turbine, a world first

(Paris) A gas turbine powered 100% with hydrogen has been successfully tested for the first time in the world, paving the way for the decarbonization of sites such as cement plants, which are very energy-intensive, the European consortium announced on Wednesday at the origin of the project.


“We have just succeeded in the world first which consists of injecting 100% hydrogen into a gas turbine to produce electricity,” Frank Lacroix, deputy general director of Engie, a stakeholder in the Hyflexpower consortium including the German companies Siemens Energy and the British company Centrax and European universities.

This innovation carried out on the site of a paper mill near Limoges demonstrates, according to its promoters, that “hydrogen can be used as a flexible means of storing electricity”, like batteries, which opens up prospects for decarbonization. rapid development of industrial sites with high CO emissions2.

“We are now able to valorize overproduction of renewable electrical energies [sous forme d’hydrogène]to store it on a site and to recover it in the form of electricity at the industrial site,” explains Mr. Lacroix.

The hydrogen used was produced by an electrolyser located on the site of paper packaging manufacturer Smurfit Kappa in Saillat-sur-Vienne, then stored in a tank before powering the turbine.

The experiment was carried out with a Siemens Energy SGT-400 gas turbine model whose combustion system was adapted for hydrogen, as if the fuel had been replaced on a thermal car engine, he says.

Unlike the gas usually used, hydrogen has a “faster” and “hotter” flame, and safety control is also more difficult. Challenges therefore had to be met in terms of the resistance of the materials and the coating of the combustion chamber, as well as “particular settings” had to be found to control combustion, according to Mr. Lacroix.

“The long-term advantage is to be able to convert existing turbine parks with simple modifications,” according to Gaël Carayon, director of the Hyflexpower project at Engie Solutions.

The first targeted customers are cement plants, the steel industry or refineries, and in general, “industrialists whose decarbonization is complex”, according to Engie. “Tomorrow’s step will be to produce not only electricity, but also heat,” adds Mr. Lacroix. Later, heavy mobility could be concerned, with aviation and maritime.

The consortium, which is intended to be expanded, also brings together the European consultant Arttic, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and four universities, Lund, Athens, London and Duisburg-Essen. It “received substantial funding from the European Union,” said a press release.


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