AMF and Grupo Bimbo Successfully Test Hydrogen-Fired Bread Baking
AMF Den Boer, in close collaboration with Grupo Bimbo Corporate, Bimbo Portugal and Kiwa Technology, announced the successful testing of a full retrofit of a baking zone in an existing bread oven using Direct Hydrogen Fired (DHF) burners. This testing took place in October 2025, in Portugal, and it proved the concept of bread baking using hydrogen gas as a heat source.
The testing was done using an existing tray oven installed in 1998 and it took two weeks to complete, with product quality being monitored continuously. The test consisted of the temporary replacement of 12 natural gas burners and controls with 12 hydrogen burners, each 16kW, with a total maximum output of 192kW. The hydrogen DHF burners were designed to match the thermal capacity and control range of the original natural direct gas-fired burners. The complete conversion to hydrogen was achieved within two days.
Upon proving the concept and finishing testing, DHF burners were installed and the baking zone was operational and capable of producing bread using 100% hydrogen heat in the baking tunnel. This successfully demonstrated the feasibility of hydrogen as a direct replacement for natural gas in industrial baking applications.
The final results confirmed the technical viability of hydrogen-fired baking for industrial tin and hearth bread production, with the potential for near-zero carbon emissions when supplied with hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources.
