BHS tabletop AG has taken a significant step towards its goal of sustainability and decarbonization in the porcelain industry. The company has succeeded in firing porcelain exclusively with hydrogen. This breakthrough marks an important milestone in the further development of energy-intensive production processes and demonstrates the potential of alternative firing methods.
Innovative combustion process with hydrogen: A key issue in efforts to reduce emissions is the development of an alternative combustion process that replaces the use of fossil fuels such as gas. Hydrogen plays an important role in these considerations. After extensive research and development, BHS tabletop has succeeded in firing porcelain with hydrogen in a firing trial. The resulting porcelain has the equivalent quality and colour characteristics of hard porcelain fired with natural gas. This test was intended to show whether firing with hydrogen as the firing gas, in which oxygen is extracted, is possible in principle.
For this purpose, a closed test oven was converted, in which, depending on the load, 200 to 1000 pieces of porcelain fit. These findings are an important step on the way to more sustainable production suitable for series production in the porcelain industry. Nevertheless, there will have to be further tests on a smaller scale regarding mass, glaze and atmosphere. These ongoing investigations are essential to make hydrogen firing in porcelain production a sustainable and economically viable solution in the long term.
Ongoing optimization and sustainable measures: The measures that the company can implement in the short and medium term to increase energy efficiency include researching further alternative combustion methods, optimizing the energy supply and using raw materials sparingly. These measures can significantly reduce the emissions generated during production. However, decarbonization remains the focus of all efforts. Firing porcelain with hydrogen is an important part of this. The fundamental and, above all, sustainable market availability of hydrogen as an energy supplier in terms of quantity and infrastructure must be established in the coming years.
BHS tabletop AG with its brands Bauscher, Schönwald, Playground and Heart&Soul been part of the Serafin Group since 2017.
