Potentialities of hydrogen enriched natural gas for residential heating decarbonization and impact analysis on premixed boilers

Abstract

Nowadays, decarbonization of energy economy is a topical theme and several pathways are under discussion. Gaseous fuels will play a primary role during this transition, and the production of renewable or low carbon-impact gaseous fuels is necessary to deal with this challenge. Decarbonization will be sustained by an increasing share of renewables, which production intermittency can be critical for the energy system. Renewable hydrogen generation is a viable solution since this energy vector can be produced from electricity with a fast response and injected in the existing natural gas infrastructures, granting storage capacity and easy transport. Parallelly to the renewable-based energy production, fossil-based energy can be exploited with a low carbon impact, using methane from reservoirs to produce hydrogen capturing CO2. The mentioned scenarios will lead to hydrogen enrichment of natural gas, which impact on the infrastructures is being actively studied. The effect on end-user devices, instead, is poorly analysed, but is fundamental to be assessed. This paper highlights the impact on the widely used premixed condensing boilers, which will be fired with hydrogen enriched natural gas in the near future, and the changes required to components.