Rolls-Royce, partners seek to develop hydrogen engine for CHP

Rolls-Royce Power Systems, a German subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Holdings (LON:RR) making mtu-brand engines, is coordinating a consortium for the development of a hydrogen combustion engine.

Rolls-Royce and five other companies and research institutes aim to develop the technologies needed for a highly efficient first-of-a-kind hydrogen combustion engine for combined heat and power (CHP) systems in the higher power range of up to 2.5 MW, the company said on Monday.

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The project is called Phoenix (Performance Hydrogen Engine for Industrial and X) and is funded by the German government. It will run for three years and should result in the development of a technology concept that is ready for use in a prototype engine.

The consortium will be developing components such as the injection system, the piston group and the ignition system, as well as a new lubricant. Aside from Rolls-Royce, the team includes the Institute for sustainable mobile propulsion systems at the Technical University of Munich; MAHLE Konzern; Fuchs Lubricants Germany GmbH; the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM); and Robert Bosch AG.

Rolls-Royce has already developed a gas-powered combustion mtu engine that can run on hydrogen, but the Phoenix project targets an even more efficient next-generation hydrogen engine.

According to Rolls-Royce Power Systems CEO Joerg Stratmann, combustion engines will remain an essential part of the provision of a reliable energy supply during the energy transition.

‘‘As soon as the availability of green hydrogen is ensured on a large scale, the technology of highly efficient hydrogen cogeneration plants promoted in the Phoenix project will be ready for use,” said Tobias Ostermaier, president of Stationary Power Solutions within Rolls-Royce’s Power Systems division.