Oil and gas

DNV designs a hydrogen burning torch for the Dutch Olympic athletes

Hydrogen (ill.)

DNV engineered and realized a hydrogen burning torch for “MissionH2”, a consortium supporting the Dutch Olympic athletes on their way to Tokyo. Recently the hydrogen promotion campaign started in which DNV’s hydrogen torch has a prominent role.

The Olympic Games in Tokyo are strongly linked with hydrogen. With the whole world watching the Games, Japan knows that this is a great opportunity to focus on hydrogen as a viable source of clean fuel that can be stored, transported and used for heating purposes. This focus on hydrogen was a trigger for a Dutch consortium of seven companies to join forces in promoting the Netherlands as a hydrogen country. Together with the ambassadors of TeamNL, awareness is being generated for hydrogen as a pillar under the climate ambitions of the Netherlands. In such an Olympic hydrogen promotional campaign, the opportunity to design a hydrogen fuelled torch could not be missed. DNV was therefore approached by the consortium to deliver a 100% hydrogen fuelled torch. The design and engineering of the torch had a few challenges: burning duration, portability, safety and visibility of the flame.

Hydrogen burning torch for the Dutch Olympic athletes

Designing the hydrogen torch
The project started with the design of the torch. Designing a replica of the Japanese torch, which has the shape of cherry blossom, was not possible because this is a protected design. The Dutch torch now has the shape of a tulip, an iconic symbol for the Netherlands. The hardest challenge was creating a 100% hydrogen fuelled torch with sufficient burning time. DNV designed a torch that can be placed on a pedestal containing a compressed hydrogen cylinder with a volume of 10 litres, allowing for continuously burning for approximately 16 hours.

Visibility of the flame
Since a hydrogen flame is almost invisible during daylight hours, the last challenge for DNV was to make the flame visible. Out of several options, DNV mounted a gauze containing sodium in the burner surface which gives the flame a visible yellow colour. Recently, in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, MissionH2 started its promotional campaign. On social media Olympic athletes and key personnel from the consortium partners presented their support for hydrogen in short videos with a prominent role for DNV's hydrogen torch.

Follow the torch on “Missie H2”.