Australian trial for hydrogen combustion water heater

Rinnai Corporation claim to have successfully developed the world’s first 100% hydrogen combustion technology for residential water heaters.

As Australia has signalled a strong commitment to developing 100% hydrogen as a residential energy source, Rinnai plans to start demonstration tests on the new hydrogen powered water heating tech here from October 2022.

These trials aim to deploy the company's accumulated knowledge of combustion and fluid control technologies as a major gas appliance manufacturer to enhance and improve the reliability and safety of hydrogen water heaters for mass production in line with the spread of hydrogen infrastructure around the world.

The Rinnai Innovation Manifesto 2050 (RIM 2050), the company's policy for carbon carbon neutral initiatives, was announced in November 2021. The Manifesto speaks of Rinnai's aim to accelerate efforts to realize a decarbonized society and set a major goal to develop products that emit zero CO₂.

It is for this reason that Rinnai have been developing water heaters that burn hydrogen to boil water, a clean fuel source with zero CO₂ emissions, despite barriers such as explosion risk and combustion stability.

If the commercialisation of this product is successful, it will contribute significantly to realizing carbon neutrality in residential water heaters, which account for a large proportion of CO₂ emitted by household appliances.