High-temperature pilot plant

The BFI's high-temperature pilot plant was established in 1996 to conduct industry-related research and has been continuously adapted and expanded to handle new industrial challenges. It is currently used primarily for research and development work and contract work on CO2 reduction and the development of decarbonisation measures. Because of its modular design, it can be flexibly adapted to customer requirements and enables, for example:

  • Burner and flame investigations in over-, near- and sub-stoichiometric atmospheres
  • Testing of components, refractory materials, new and existing devices/measuring systems and hybrid heating technologies (fuel gas/electricity)
  • Investigations of waste heat utilisation systems
  • Development of improvement measures to increase efficiency, save energy and reduce emissions

Flame temperatures of around 3000°C can be achieved in the plant.

The high-temperature pilot plant is located on the grounds of Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) in Duisburg and is directly connected to the steelworks' gas network via a pipe bridge. This ensures a supply of natural gas, nitrogen, oxygen and compressed air, as well as the process gases coke oven gas and blast furnace gas.

In order to carry out tests with hydrogen, the high-temperature pilot plant was expanded in 2023 to include its own hydrogen supply with H2 storage. The total capacity of the storage facility is 900 m³i.N. and can be refilled at short notice. H2 investigations up to a volume fraction of 60% H2 in the fuel gas can be carried out cost-effectively with coke oven gas.

The engineering work to expand the media supply to include ammonia is nearly complete. Construction and commissioning are planned for 2026.

Information on gases and media at the high-temperature pilot plant
Boundary conditions and technical data:
  • Combustion chamber size: 6 m x 2 m + 4 m x 1 m
  • Burner connection values: up to 1 MW
    • Installation of side wall and ceiling burners
    • Investigation of regenerative burners in combination with jet pipe heating/ceiling burners
    • Investigation of water-cooled burners and flame evaluation (shape, stability, burnout) possible via sight glasses and UV camera
    • Combustion air preheating: up to 800 °C
    • Combustion gas preheating: up to 500 °C
    • Oxygen content in the combustion air up to 23 % possible as standard (can be individually adapted to customer requirements by conversion)
  • Sampling connections/access points for measurements, installations and injection devices for media
    • Traversing measurements via probes (O2, CO, CO2, NOx, SO2, T, etc.) in the combustion chamber and near the flame (optically, e.g. through viewing windows or UV camera system) using water-cooled extraction pyrometers, including temperature measurement
    • Devices for installing and testing components such as furnace rollers, also water-cooled, up to a diameter of 300 mm
    • Heat sinks can be simulated using water-cooled lances (up to approx. 350 kW)
  • process control system (freely programmable) and digital measurement data acquisition
  • Electrical connection: up to 400 V, 6 x 125 A available
  • Measurement results can be used, among other things, to validate CFD calculations