| Piston power
Caterpillar expands hydrogen options
Caterpillar has announced new additions to its lineup of commercially available power solutions running on hydrogen fuel.
Caterpillar’s range of gas generating sets capable of operating on natural gas blended with up to 25% hydrogen by volume now includes power nodes from 600 kW to 2.5 MW for 50 or 60 Hz continuous, prime, and load management applications. These include Cat CG132B and Cat CG170B gensets as well as the G3500H series platform.
In addition, the company offers aftermarket retrofit kits for updating these models to provide the same hydrogen blending capabilities, ie, up to 25% hydrogen by volume.
These new generator sets add to Caterpillar’s current portfolio of hydrogen-capable power solutions. It was aleady offering demonstrator Cat G3516 gas generator sets capable of operating on 100% hydrogen, with a maximum rating of 1250 kW for 50 or 60 Hz continuous applications.
“By expanding our portfolio of generator sets using hydrogen blends, we’re allowing more of our customers to evaluate the performance and sustainability of hydrogen-fueled power solutions in their operations,” said Bart Myers, general manager for Caterpillar Large Electric Power. Last year, Caterpillar announced a project with District Energy St Paul to demonstrate a 2.0 MW CHP system fuelled by various combinations of hydrogen and natural gas. The project is supported and partially funded by the US Department of Energy, and backed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Caterpillar has also worked with Microsoft to demonstrate a power system incorporating a large-format hydrogen fuel cell to produce reliable and sustainable backup power for data centres. This project is also supported and partially funded by US DoE (under the H2@Scale initiative), and backed by NREL See page 20. Caterpillar notes that these initiatives build on “35 years of enterprise experience in hydrogen fuels, supporting numerous power generation projects across multiple end industries currently operating on natural gas blended with up to 80% hydrogen.”
In addition to hydrogen, Caterpillar says it is actively contributing to “a reduced-carbon future” through continued investments in: distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) software for monitoring, managing, and monetising on-site energy assets; full hybrid energy technologies; cogeneration technology and combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) systems; and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), biodiesel, and blended fuel products.
MHIET achieves 50% H2 in single cylinder test
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd (MHIET), part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has confirmed stable combustion of hydrogen admixture in
a single cylinder test engine, up to 50 vol% H2 “without losing the rated output” and suggests that a cogeneration system with the original 5.75 MW engine “would generate the same result.”
In preparation for commercialisation, anticipated FY2025, MHIET says it is finalising “specifications of auxiliary equipment to be installed together with the engine and control systems of all related equipment.” MHIET’s focus is on introducing hydrogen combustion to its KU series gas engine cogeneration systems, “widely used in various industries”, reducing carbon emissions while maintaining output.
In the single cylinder tests, MHIET tackled issues such as knocking caused by hydrogen’s faster flame propagation speed and preignition combustion caused by hydrogen’s lower minimum ignition energy, maintaining stable combustion “by adjusting the excess air ratio and other parameters.”
The testing showed that the KU based cogeneration system running on hydrogen would achieve 0.27 kg CO2
per kWh without waste heat recovery for hot water production.
Above: MHIET KU series gas engine (18KU30GSI)
This emission level is set as the standard for natural gas fired power generation systems during the transitional period specified by the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities.* It has been previously confirmed that another configuration of KU gas engine cogeneration system, that which generates steam from exhaust gas and employs higher temperature engine cooling water (120°C jacket water at engine outlet) has nearly met the standard
already. The MHIET team expects that the CO2 emissions of the latter system will be further reduced by moving to a hydrogen blend, and “they continue to work on the development.”
* European Commission Delegated Regulation 2022/1214, 9 March 2022
Wärtsilä secures 12-year O&M extension in Pakistan
Wärtsilä’s O&M agreement with Sindh Nooriabad Power Company (SNPC), a Pakistan based independent power producer (IPP), has been extended for a further 12 years. The agreement has been in place since 2017. The agreement covers the SNPC 1 and 2 power plants located in Sindh Province, Pakistan. Both plants are equipped with five Wärtsilä 34SG gas engines and one steam turbine generator for engine heat recovery. The combined capacity of the two plants is 100 MW, with the rapid start-up of the Wärtsilä 34SG engines allowing a quick response to any grid fluctuations. The plants also operate on local gas, which reduces fuel costs.
The SNPC units are the first IPP plants to built under a public-private partnership in Pakistan. SNPC has a power purchase agreement spanning 25 years, out of which 19 years are remaining.
Right: SNPC 1 and 2 (Image © Sindh Nooriabad Power Company)
www.modernpowersystems.com | January/February 2024 | 31
“Our experience with Wärtsilä operating and maintaining these plants has been extremely positive. The plants’ performance has been both trouble-free and cost-effective, and this adds considerable value to our operations,” said SNPC.
Wärtsilä has a an installed base of 2.3 GW in Pakistan, of which 910 MW are covered by service agreements.
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