Japanese engineering firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has completed tests of its first hydrogen-fuelled engine for cogeneration systems, as part of its efforts to decarbonise its engine business.
MHI announced today that it completed test operations of its first small-scale power generator, which is installed with a dual-fuel engine that can run on town gas and hydrogen for a high-efficiency cogeneration system. The engine generates 0.45MW of power and is able to blend 35pc of hydrogen as a generation fuel.
The test generator is located at domestic gas distributor Toho Gas's property in Aichi prefecture. It is designed as an in-house generator for hospitals, large facilities, factories and hotels already using typical gas generators for cogeneration, MHI said.
This is Japan's first dual-fuel engine that can use 35pc of hydrogen as a generation fuel. Japan is also developing a gas turbine to consume hydrogen as a generation fuel. Japanese engineering firm Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and domestic general construction firm Obayashi have been developing hydrogen-fired gas turbine technology to increase efficiency and blend hydrogen with natural gas as a generation fuel for future commercial use.
Japanese utility Jera is working on projects to demonstrate the potential of hydrogen co-fired technology at existing combined-cycle gas-turbine units in the US.
