[월간수소경제 박상우 기자] BMW has developed a burner that can be used by mixing natural gas (NG) and hydrogen at its factory in Leipzig, Germany.
BMW announced on the 20th (local time) that it has developed a burner that can co-ignite gas and hydrogen, and will install it in the painting process at the Leipzig factory and begin trial operation.
These burners can use either natural gas or hydrogen only, or a mixture of both. Fuel can also be changed during operation. Through this, the necessary energy is supplied to the paint dryer used in the painting process.
The burner was jointly developed by Saacke, a German hydrogen burner manufacturer, and the Fraunhofer IFF, Magdeburg, Germany, which mainly researches the 4th industrial revolution, robots and automation, and process intelligence.
The hydrogen currently supplied to the burner is hydrogen reformed from natural gas, and green hydrogen will be supplied via pipelines from 2024.
BMW plans to convert all the burners used in the painting process at the Leipzig plant to these burners when the test is successfully completed and there is a sufficient supply of green hydrogen.
