Naylor fires first clay pot using hydrogen

Naylor Industries is one of 12 members that are supporting the British Ceramic Confederation (BCC) to explore the feasibility of using hydrogen to reduce the sector’s reliance on natural gas and improve its carbon footprint.

The Yorkshire, UK-based manufacturer of building and construction products, fired its first clay pot using hydrogen this summer, and will soon produce a high-strength pipe, announced Richard Edwards, Divisional Managing Director at Naylor Plastic Products on LinkedIn.

The BCC-led hydrogen project began in late 2019 when its Energy and Emissions Group set up a Low Carbon Working Group. After submitting an application to the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) industrial fuel switching competition, the group secured £300,000 in funding.

Phase one of the project, which began in March and ended in late September, involved a feasibility study for the ceramics sector with a comprehensive assessment of the issues raised.

As part of this first phase, the working group has explored international efforts to develop hydrogen technologies in the ceramics sector and has built links with like-minded organisations pursuing similar aims.

Naylor Industries says that the group’s 12 members have undertaken combustion trials to benchmark a range of hydrogen fuel scenarios against natural gas. The purpose is to assess the impact on ceramic products that have been fired under both conditions so they can be compared.

The working group has also undertaken an economic modelling exercise to assess the costs of switching industrial ceramics to hydrogen. It plans to scope out and plan industrial-scale hydrogen trials at a range of manufacturing sites in the near future.

The project’s findings will be released in a BEIS report in due course, says Naylor Industries.