Toyota Motor Europe has chosen Fives’ hydrogen burner technology to equip a heat treatment furnace at its site in Poland. This is the first time the car manufacturer is using hydrogen for this particular application.

Toyota is a partner in HYINHEAT (Hydrogen technologies for decarbonisation of industrial heating processes), a European-funded project that aims to integrate hydrogen as a fuel for high-temperature heating processes in energy-intensive industries, particularly in the aluminium and steel sectors. The project seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from these sectors by implementing efficient hydrogen combustion systems that cover almost their entire process chains. Project partners include Tecnalia, Linde, and Celsa Nordic.

The first of the Fives 175 kW dual fuel conical burners (natural gas and hydrogen) was installed at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland in August. Rigorously tested at the Fives European Combustion Centre, one of Europe’s largest industrial combustion R&D centres, the burner was put through its paces to assess output quality at Toyota while using full hydrogen combustion. Conclusive results signalled the first phase of a lasting collaboration between the two companies.

Krzysztof Zieliński, Head of PE Innovation at Toyota Motor Europe said: “Our manufacturing strategy follows a multi-pathway approach to meet the diverse needs of our clients. We are applying the same philosophy to the decarbonisation of our factories. By testing burners capable of using sustainable gases —including hydrogen (H₂), natural gas (NG), and biogas—we are making significant progress towards achieving carbon-zero emissions.”