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P2X Innovation

Clean combustion with hydrogen burners

P2X is one of the core technologies in the drive to reduce global CO2 emissions. In the first step, electricity from renewable sources is used to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen in an electrolyser. The hydrogen can be directly converted back into energy in suitable hydrogen burners.

Dortmund-based thermal engineering specialist GoGaS Goch GmbH & Co. KG has developed a hydrogen burner that enables extremely clean combustion using porous burner technology. The process takes place in a porous ceramic foam, with each pore in the foam being a separate reaction cell. Apart from water, the only combustion products are trace amounts of nitrogen oxides. A hydrogen burner has more than twice the heat transfer coefficient of a natural gas burner – so the heating
process takes only half as long. This technology can already be utilised in making steelworks largely CO2-neutral. But it’s not just heating or forming processes in the steel sector that can be made sustainable and climate-friendly using this method.

CO2-neutral buildings

If we take P2X a step further, the next level is the reaction of hydrogen with environmental CO2. Here, again using renewable electricity, methane – essentially natural gas – is produced. The methane generated in this way is CO2-neutral, which means that in contrast to fossil fuels, no additional CO2 is emitted during combustion. In the building services engineering sector, it is possible to create buildings that are completely CO2-neutral in operation. These sustainable buildings are fully planned and implemented by companies such as GoGaS. The prerequisite is that the building envelope is designed from the outset to be energy-efficient. By means of solar air collectors, a renewable base load is integrated into the building. Depending on usage, this could amount to between 25 and more than 50 per cent of the building’s total annual energy requirement. The solar air collectors use the exterior wall of a building as a solar panel. Ambient air is drawn in through a specially designed, perforated plate. The outside air channelled into the building, preheated by the sun’s rays, can reach a maximum of 45° Celsius above the surrounding air temperature. This means that in winter when the outside temperature is –5°, air at +40° is routed into the building, with no need to use fossil fuels. HVLS (High Volume Low Speed) fans prevent the formation of heat cushions below the interior ceiling of the building, saving even more energy.

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