Thermal power plants
How process heat or electricity can be produced without pollutants

A team of experts working on the Hydroxy project is developing a steam generator to burn hydrogen and oxygen and generate electricity or heat without pollutants. It can be used to drive turbomachinery or supply industrial companies with process heat or electricity.

The CO₂-free and thus climate-friendly steam generator also has other advantages. These include manageable investment costs: If the combustion product "steam" is used in a connected steam process, it is also the circulation medium. This means that there is no need for the usual heat exchanger in the water-steam cycle. Such a steam generator is also suitable for the reconversion of hydrogen, which is intended to play an important role in the energy transition, namely as a chemical storage medium for surplus green electricity.

The goal: Developing prototypes and testing them under practical conditions

Siemens Energy is coordinating the Hydroxy research project. Together with scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the team of experts from industry is working on the best possible design of the steam generator in terms of construction technology. "To do this, we first need more knowledge about how the H₂-O₂ combustion process takes place under the conditions we are targeting and how it can be advantageously influenced," explains project leader Dr Carmen Stueer of Siemens Energy.

With the help of simulations and combustion tests, the researchers want to obtain more precise in-formation, for example about flame stability, thermoacoustic phenomena or the composition of the residual gas. The knowledge gained will then be used to build a prototype. This is to be tested in a closed water-steam cycle under realistic operating conditions in a test facility at the Siemens Energy Test Center in Görlitz. (it)