Rolls-Royce’s mtu Series Gas Engines Receive

Hydrogen-Ready Certificate
turbomachinerymag.com/view/rolls-royce-s-mtu-series-gas-engines-receive-hydrogen-ready-certificate

James Cook

The first installation of 100% hydrogen-powered mtu 4000 FNER/FV engines is planned
for early 2025 at two combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plants for the Enerport II
lighthouse project.

Rolls-Royce’s mtu Series 4000 FNER/FV gas engines received H2-readiness certification
from TÜV Süd. It will provide newbuild and retrofit power plants with its Series 4000
engines using a hydrogen mixture of up to 25% by volume and 100% by volume for
operation. The engines, when using green hydrogen, are CO2-free and adhere to the
EU’s emissions requirements with/without exhaust gas aftertreatment.

“The certificate increases investment security for our customers,” said Tobias Ostermaier,
President of Stationary Power Solutions, Rolls-Royce Power Systems. “They can be sure
that they will be able to use hydrogen as a fuel with our engines in the future. With this
step, we have reached another milestone on our hydrogen roadmap."

TÜV Süd, an international provider of testing, inspection, and certification services, grants
H2-ready certification when components and systems are prepared for future hydrogen
usage and capable of conversion.

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“We see hydrogen as one of the key elements of the energy transition,” said Dr. Jörg
Stratmann, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems. “With our strategy of making our
engines fit for the use of sustainable fuels, we will make a decisive contribution to its
success."

The company said the first 1 MW hydrogen-ready mtu should be delivered before 2025.
The initial installation is scheduled for early 2025 at the Enerport II lighthouse project in
Germany’s Duisburg inland port. Two CHP plants will add to the CO2-neutral energy
supply in the new container terminal. Prior to delivery, Rolls-Royce is testing the engines
at its gas engine plant in Augsburg. Testing of the 12-cylinder mtu Series 4000 L64 gas
engine displayed high performance, efficiency, and low-emissions characteristics.

Hydrogen engine testing at Augsburg plant; Image Credits: Rolls-Royce

The L64 gas engine achieved a targeted total output of 1 MW and, over the course of
development, is expected to reach 1.2 MW. Rolls-Royce established the required
infrastructure for hydrogen engine test bench runs in the Augsburg and Friedrichshafen
plants.

In June 2024, Rolls-Royce and a five-member consortium began developing technologies

for a hydrogen combustion engine for CHP systems. The Phoenix project—Performance
Hydrogen Engine for Industrial and X—received almost €5 million in funding from the
German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.

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The consortium plans to develop an engine with the same electrical and thermal energy
output as the currently available natural gas-powered CHP units—a higher power range
of up to 2.5 MW. Using green hydrogen fuel, this stationary energy plant will operate with
total carbon-neutrality. Combustion engine development will occur for a three-year term.
Following this term, a technology concept will be selected for use in a prototype engine.

Participants in the Phoenix project consortium are Rolls-Royce; the Institute for
Sustainable Mobile Propulsion Systems at the Technical University of Munich; MAHLE
Konzern; Fuchs Lubricants Germany GmbH; the German Federal Institute for Materials
Research and Testing; and Robert Bosch AG. These partners will develop components
including the injection system, the piston group and ignition system, and a new lubricant.

In April 2024, Rolls-Royce completed the delivery of 12 generator sets to a gas power
plant servicing a large-scale oil and gas production site in Oman. The total supply was
eight mtu containerized gas gensets and four mtu 20-V Series 4000 L64 FNER gas
engines. Each genset produces 2 MW of power to meet the demands of the facility.

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