Decarbonising heating is a globally recognised challenge, and one which must be quickly overcome if the ambitious target of net-zero is to be achieved by 2050.
Newly formed technology company HYTING has developed a safe, highly efficient, carbon-free forced-air heating system (patents-pending) that uses a unique catalytic process to turn hydrogen and oxygen from air into heat.
Unlike systems that rely on hydrogen combustion to generate heat, HYTING’s technology does not produce any CO2, NOx, or particulate emissions – the only by-product is water.
The process is also inherently safe, as it does not use flammable concentrations of hydrogen at any operating point.
The hydrogen is supplied at the same low pressures typical of natural gas supplies – around 1.5bar – so costly and energy-intensive compression and storage is not used. And unlike other technologies which rely on hydrogen, such as fuel cells, HYTING’s heating system works on commonly available hydrogen sources: high-purity grades are not necessary.
HYTING’s technology is as robust and cost-effective as it is innovative because it uses many proven, existing components from the heating and automotive industries.
It’s also modular and highly scalable in design, with outputs of 10-300 kW, enabling it to be configured for a wide range of different heating applications, including industrial, commercial, and residential buildings – both new-builds and retrofits, agricultural greenhouses, portable heating units, and heating systems for commercial vehicles (e.g. buses, coaches and heavy-duty trucks). It’s even suitable for pizza ovens.
Prototypes are currently undergoing testing, with the first customer trials expected in Germany by the end of this year.
HYTING founder, Tim Hannig, said hydrogen has the potential to contribute to the decarbonization of the building sector.
“We’re preparing our technology for the first customer trials, with the ambition to quickly scale to volume production within the next two years,” he said.
“We want to play our part in accelerating the transition from fossil fuels towards a more sustainable future by placing our zero-emissions heating systems at the heart of the clean hydrogen economy.”
Heating is responsible for a significant proportion of the world’s carbon emissions, accounting for 15 per cent of CO2 emissions, with natural gas used to heat 42 per cent of homes.
Gas- and oil-fired heating is slowly being phased out in favour of air- and ground-source heat pumps, but although they are a promising alternative they are not efficient at very low ambient temperatures, or periods of high demand.
HYTING’s technology can work alongside heat pumps to form a hybrid and completely CO2-free heating system that can overcome these shortcomings and ensure effective heating under all conditions.
This also optimises installation and running costs because the heat pump can be sized at the power rating where it is most energy-efficient, with the HYTING technology supplementing total heating output on cold days and taking care of peak loads.
The scalability and flexibility engineered into the technology from day one also means that it can function as a back-up heating source, if needed, or as a standalone system.
Using clean hydrogen to replace just five per cent of the volume of the world’s natural gas supplies would significantly boost demand for clean hydrogen and drive down costs, making it an even more attractive, sustainable source of heating worldwide.