According to Tenova, the trial involved the heat treatment of 70 metric tons of narrow strip in a bell-type annealing plant using hydrogen as a fuel and Tenova LOI’s HPH^®-flameless technology.

“Despite the higher combustion temperature and the associated potential for increased nitrogen oxide emissions compared to natural gas, the flameless concept demonstrated remarkably low NOx emissions,” the company said.  

Tenova said the project affirms that its Ultra Low NOx HPH-flameless bell-type annealing plant is well-suited for use with hydrogen.

“The combustion of hydrogen is technically more complex than the direct use of electricity or the combustion of natural gas. This project has provided us with further insights into the decarbonization of the bell-type annealing process and is helping us on our joint path towards the transformation to climate-neutral steel production,” said Tenova LOI Thermproces project manager and process engineer Gökhan Gula.