The detailed design and construction of a new station was carried out to carry out experimental tests on a cogeneration engine operating with mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas.
RSE’s work aimed to delve deeper into some topics covered in the literature, in particular the assessment of the impact on the performance, emissions and useful life of the components of a cogeneration engine powered by H2/Natural Gas (NG) mixtures with ever-increasing hydrogen contents, up to a maximum volumetric concentration of 20%. Differently from that which is generally found in the literature, a system was designed capable of carrying out long-term tests with variable hydrogen concentrations, simulating different user thermal load profiles.
The plant designed by RSE consists of a commercial alkaline electrolyser capable of producing up to 1.33 Nm3/h of hydrogen, a hydrogen and network natural gas mixing system, a 67 kWth and 30 kWel commercial cogeneration engine (certified to run on natural gas) and measurement systems to measure the properties of the fuel mixture (calorimeter) and exhaust gases (fume analysis system). The user thermal load is simulated through a water circuit in which the heat generated by the engine is dissipated by an air heater.
A special supervision and control system was developed that allows for the system to be operated in both automatic and manual mode, thus ensuring the correct functioning and operational safety of the system.
At the end of the construction of the plant, all its components and control and supervision system were tested. The result of this testing was positive.
The future experimentation will be carried out in close collaboration with the engine manufacturer (ASJA) which will take care of a series of control and maintenance interventions during the long-term experimentation, in order to verify the effects of hydrogen on the engine components.