HyLICAL Project Reaches Milestone: Sustainable Cooling Turns Hydrogen Into Liquid

The EU project HyLICAL has reached an important milestone with the commissioning of Europe's first magnetocaloric pilot plant for hydrogen liquefaction. The demonstrator, developed by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the start-up MAGNOTHERM, represents a breakthrough in the field of sustainable, energy-efficient magnetic cooling and paves the way for large-scale industrial application.

Europe's first demonstrator for the magnetic cooling of hydrogen uses the magnetocaloric effect: materials such as LaFeSi change their temperature in magnetic fields, enabling cooling to -253 °C, which liquefies hydrogen. At the heart of the system is a 19-tesla superconducting magnet in the high-field magnet laboratory. The aim is to increase efficiency and produce 100 kg of liquid hydrogen per day – a step towards industrial scaling.

"Our magnetic cooling technology represents a new type of climate-friendly and energy-efficient refrigeration technology, completely without compressors and environmentally harmful refrigerant gases. This will enable us to significantly accelerate the necessary climate tech transformation within the refrigeration industry", explains Timur Sirman, one of the two MAGNOTHERM managing directors.