Researchers at the University of Stavanger (UiS) say they have managed to run a gas turbine on 100% hydrogen.
UiS operates a micro gas plant in southwest Norway. The gas turbine produces both heat and electricity. It also supplies hot water for heating the laboratory buildings in the immediate area. In addition, surplus energy is supplied to power provider Lyse’s district heating and electricity grids.
The researchers have been working on developing a method for using pure hydrogen as fuel in the gas turbine. The goal is to produce electricity with zero CO2 emissions. In mid-May 2022, they started running the turbine on 100% hydrogen.
“We have set a world record in hydrogen combustion in micro gas turbines. No one has been able to produce at this level before,” says Professor Mohsen Assadi. “The efficiency of running the gas turbine with hydrogen will be somewhat less. The big gain, though, is to be able to utilize the infrastructure that already exists. In addition, there are no CO2 emissions associated with this energy production.”
Assadi says that this research is about storage as well as distribution of gas fuel.
“First, a certain effort is required to ensure that existing gas infrastructure can handle hydrogen instead of natural gas. Second, this is about technology for energy conversion – that is, the turbine technology itself. That is what we have focused on. We have contributed to technological adaptations of the fuel system and combustion chamber technology,” he says.
