IFRF has entered into its first collaborative bid for an externally funded EU project since moving to its current location at the Translational Energy Research Centre- University of Sheffield in 2018. The proposed project entitled ‘LAB to high TRL assessment: development of advanced hYdrogen combustion solutions for dRy low emission TecHnologies’, or Labyrinth2 for short, was submitted to the recent HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2024-04-02 competition which closed on 17th April 2024. Lead by SESTA Lab in Italy, the project includes 7 partners across, Italy, UK, Finland and Switzerland. Whilst the IFRF entity is fronted by IFRF Ltd in Sheffield in the UK, it also involves input from the French and Italian national committee organisations who have been instrumental in IFRF’s recent technical programme offering of TOTeM and workshops in collaboration with the Combustion Institute for example.      

In terms of the LabyrintH2 proposal itself, it focuses on the topic of developing advanced gas turbine combustion systems able to burn hydrogen fuel blends up to 100% hydrogen. It will cover both numerical and experimental aspects to address the fundamental characteristics of premixed hydrogen flames. The aim is to provide a deep evaluation of two different burner configurations  tested at pressures up to 10 bar to deliver public-sharing results of developed tools, implemented methodologies and data set. It will move the low emissions gas turbine combustion systems developed through to TRL5.

The development of advanced gas turbine combustion systems to reliably stabilise premixed hydrogen flames at high pressure– with virtually zero emissions of  atmospheric pollutants – is considered as crucial to help keep European electricity supply stable in the light of increasing non-dispatchable renewable electricity generation. This has been a development goal for the industry for several years now, and the name LabyrintH2 nicely captures the challenge that “like in a labyrinth, the solution is never simple but reachable with patience, work and competences”.

The IFRF team are fully supportive of this exciting project and are ready to help the partners disseminate the findings should it be selected- we will find out later this year!