The SO-FREE project has reached a major milestone with the completion of the Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) of its integrated system at ICI Caldaie’s facilities in Italy. The prototype, assembled at the ICI laboratory, has successfully demonstrated readiness for real-world operation and potential deployment in flexible, fuel-adaptive energy solutions.
The testing campaign included cold and hot tests, verifying the integration of main components, functionality of auxiliary subsystems, and overall operational readiness. The system was tested across the full hydrogen/natural gas fuel range (0–100% H₂/CH₄ blends), showing stable operation and automatic adaptation to changing fuel compositions. At full load (5 kWe), the system achieved net electrical efficiencies of ~50% on pure hydrogen and 56% on natural gas, confirming expected performance at current operating points.
