Rolls-Royce’s mtu Series Gas Engines Receive Hydrogen-Ready Certificate

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.

“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.

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.