Multispectral Imaging of CO₂-free Hydrogen Combustion for Industrial Annealing Processes and Comparison to Natural Gas

The drive to transition towards greener methods for energy production and industrial processes is stronger every year. Typical combustion reactions create well known gas products (CO₂, H₂O, CO, etc…) and governments as well as the industry are pushing to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted every day. A great example of this effort is the research accomplished at the Instituto de Tecnología Cerámica (ITC) in Spain, focusing on a transition for ceramic annealing by a helium burner instead of a traditional natural gas one. Associated with the University of Jaume, their fundamental objective is to research, capitalize on knowledge, transfer technology, and design high-value services for companies. A demonstrative study was accomplished with a multispectral infrared camera to observe the difference in CO₂ and H₂O output from one type of combustion to the other as well as study the fire plume behaviour using high-speed infrared imaging.