For the first time in its facilities, the Institute of Ceramic Technology (ITC-AICE) has accomplished hydrogen combustion in a ceramic kiln.
The research was carried out in a specially designed combustion chamber. Doctors make up the research group. ITC-AICE researchers Salvador Ferrer and Ana Mezquita, along with Eliseo Monfort, a professor at the Jaume I University of Castellón who also leads the UJI’s GAIA Research Group, explain: «We are very aware of the intense push that the ceramics industry requires and we are putting all of our efforts into contributing to its decarbonization, therefore, managing to use, on a pilot scale and with an adapted combustion chamber, mixtures of natural gas
According to the study team, controlled combustion was achieved with conventional burners with mixes of up to 20% hydrogen in these early experiments, marking the project’s first significant milestone. It should be noted that work is being done on the design and development of burners specifically adapted for use in the ceramic industry, so that they allow the controlled combustion of natural gas and hydrogen mixtures at the temperatures required in the ceramic process, with the goal of achieving 100 percent hydrogen combustion at the project’s next milestone, scheduled for the second half of 2022.
