Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have achieved a major milestone in hydrogen power by operating a new compressorless gas turbine for a record 303 seconds. Earlier this year, the KIT team also became the first to generate electricity with a hydrogen gas turbine that does not rely on a mechanical compressor. Hydrogen Turbine Runs for More Than Five MinutesEarlier experiments could continue for only fractions of a second because longer operation would cause the combustion chambers to melt. Why Hydrogen Works So WellThe technology can operate with fuels other than hydrogen, but hydrogen is especially suitable because it reacts very quickly and can produce stable increases in pressure. Generating Electricity Without Mechanical CompressionConnecting the combustion chamber to a turbine and converting its intense combustion into electricity created an additional engineering challenge.