Parallel to the development of a thermal power plant for optimal use of fossil fuels, research work also deals with the use of artificial fuels, e.g. hydrogen. The basic idea is to use oxygen and hydrogen produced by solar energy in a thermal power plant, leading to a power plant which produces no emissions to the environment. The main scientific objective of this work is the design of a thermal cycle for optimum use of hydrogen and the development of novel components of this cycle with internal combustion of hydrogen and oxygen. In detail these components are: The steam compressor working in the superheated steam region.

The high temperature combustion chamber for the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen with cooling by steam (50 bar, 1200°C ) and the high temperature steam turbine to be designed according to gas turbine design philosophy. Further the turbomachinery bladings have to be adjusted to the conditions of steam flow. In the case of steam as working fluid compared to an air breathing gas turbine the density of the medium will be higher at the entry to the turbine and the steam will have almost double the specific heat of an air combustion gas flow. These conditions require intensive film cooling of the blades for a higher number of stages but at considerably smaller surface of the blades to be cooled.
Since the production and transport of solar hydrogen is a matter of long term development research on an alternative cycle is performed. Here, the cycle can be fired by methan and oxygen with steam as cooling medium. This offers the possibility to extract the CO2 from the cycle and either store it or use it for technical purposes, thus providing the possibility for CO2 retention in a way not achievable with standard power plants.