Testing on whether an existing commercial oven can be converted from natural gas to hydrogen has proven successful.
The announcement came from AMF Den Boer, the Netherlands-based brand of global equipment supplier AMF Baking Solutions, which collaborated with teams from Kiwa Technologies and Grupo Bimbo on the proof-of-concept test in Portugal.
They were able to retrofit a 1998 tunnel oven to run on hydrogen gas (H2) – the only emissions being water, making the burning process carbon neutral – and successfully bake a wide range of products continuously over a two-week period.
AMF Den Boer engineers and partners replaced the existing 12 gas burners with the same number of Direct Hydrogen Fired (DHF) burners, each rated at 16 kW with a maximum output of 192kW.
The DHF burners were designed to match the thermal capacity and control range of the original burners, and were installed in the exact same locations which AMF said made for a fast and efficient retrofit. As a result, the complete conversion from gas to hydrogen was completed within two days.
Product quality was continuously monitored in parallel with close supervision of the hydrogen system, including the temporary external gas supply to the bakery and all associated in-house gas safety measures.
Despite technical challenges mainly relating to burner ignition, the DHF burners consistently reached target baking temperatures and demonstrated performance comparable to conventional baking methods with respect to product quality, safety, and sensory characteristics, according to the firms.
Additionally, hydrogen’s clean combustion enabled the oven to operate at a lower overall temperature, as well as slightly reducing natural gas consumption in the remaining ovens, they said. Safety systems, including leak detection, purging, ventilation, and emergency shutdowns, were successfully validated under real production conditions as well.
“The results confirm the feasibility of hydrogen technology as a sustainable and viable alternative for industrial tin and hearth bread production with zero carbon emissions,” said AMF.
The DHF burners are covered with US and International patents and patents pending. Further engineering improvements are needed before permanent implementation.
AMF previously launched a hydrogen-fuelled tunnel oven – the Multibake Vita model – back in 2020.
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