TWINGHY: Hydrogen solutions of tomorrow
The meeting, hosted by the RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany, on February 21-22, 2024, marked the first anniversary of the TWINGY consortium [link to the kick-off meeting]. TWINGHY – Digital TWINs for green hydrogen transition in the steel industry, is a 54-month project co-founded by the European Union that aims to reduce CO2 emissions through the use of hybrid burners and digital twin technology.
Design development and tests
As an industrial partner in the project, Fives is developing a new reheating burner capable of injecting a blend of hydrogen and natural gas in a range from 0 to 100% hydrogen. The burner will be tested at Celsa’s furnace n°3 in Barcelona, Spain.
“Replacing traditional burners with hybrid technology is a big challenge. We have to ensure high quality of the final products and reduce NOx emissions while maintaining the same productivity. The measurement tests that Fives is performing will help us to improve the burner and optimize the process in terms of energy consumption and maintenance,” says Sébastien Caillat, R&D Combustion Chief Expert at Fives Stein, a Fives’ subsidiary specialised in thermal technology.
During the meeting in Aachen, the partners visited the laboratories of the Institute of Mineral Engineering and the Department of Industrial Furnaces and Heat Engineering, where tests are carried out to ensure the compatibility of the refractory materials in a hydrogen-heated furnace.
The partners also shared the latest research results and progress of the TWINGHY project, including:
- Burner design development
- Industrial integration and validation of H2 in steel production
- Simulation and measurement tests at Celsa’s reheating furnace
- Risk assessment
- Digital Twin evolution
Key project for green transformation
As a key project for the green and digital transformation of the steel industry, TWINGHY has been the subject of several European conferences, including:
- Annual Meeting of the European Commission’s TG5A expert committee in Pisa, Italy, on July 17-18, 2023
- European Steel Clean, organized by the Research Fund on Coal and Steel, in Venice, Italy, on January 25, 2024
- European Conference on Furnaces and Boilers (INFUB) in Albufeira, Portugal, on April 2-5, 2024, where an in-depth study on new generation burners in reheating furnaces will be presented by Fives.