Syngas News

Syngas News

UNITED KINGDOM

UK awards $36 million to low carbon hydrogen projects

The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has awarded £28 million ($36 million) of government funding to five demonstration projects for low carbon hydrogen production, as part of a larger stimulus package to cut industrial carbon emissions. The projects targeted for funding include:

• Dolphyn, which is looking at combining offshore wind power to electrolyse seawater at scale in deep water locations. Hydrogen would be piped from floating combined 10MW wind turbines/ water treatment/electrolyser plants to shore. The funding will enable the detailed design of a 2 MW prototype system.
• Gigastack, which aims to demonstrate the delivery of bulk, low-cost zero-carbon hydrogen through gigawatt-scale polymer-electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers. The funding will enable ITM Power to work towards developing a system that uses electricity from Orsted’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm to generate renewable hydrogen for the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery.
• Hyper, which is looking at a low-carbon bulk hydrogen supply through pilot scale demonstration of a sorption enhanced steam reforming process, based on a novel technology invented by the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). This phase of the funding will enable the detailed design and build of the system at Cranfield University.
• Acorn Hydrogen Project. This is the evaluation and development of an advanced reforming process, and includes involvement from Johnson Matthey, who are providing a low-carbon hydrogen technology for evaluation. The proposal is to deliver an energy- and cost-efficient process for hydrogen production from North Sea natural gas, while capturing and sequestering associated CO2 emissions.

Finally, there is HyNet – a low carbon hydrogen plant being developed by a consortium of Progressive Energy, Essar Oil Ltd, Johnson Matthey and SNC-Lavalin. HyNet will develop a 100,000 Nm3 per hour clean hydrogen production facility for deployment as part of the HyNet Cluster at a 160 acre site owned by Essar Oil at Ellesmere Port near Liverpool, close to the Stanlow refinery, using Johnson Matthey’s low-carbon hydrogen technology, which enables carbon capture and storage.

Arup joins hydrogen global charter

Arup has signed up to the Hydrogen Global charter. Hydrogen Global was launched in 2019 by the World Energy Council as a platform to promote the deployment of clean hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels. Stemming from the Council’s unparalleled global network of energy experts, Hydrogen Global assembles projects, programmes, and organisations working with hydrogen to raise awareness of the technology across the wider energy community. Arup says that it will draw on its global technical expertise to support the evaluation, application and deployment of effective hydrogen-based solutions to help promote clean hydrogen worldwide.

Chair of the Arup Group, Alan Belfield, said: “Hydrogen can play a critical role in decarbonising energy systems across the world. We are delighted to demonstrate our commitment to the future hydrogen economy by aligning to the World Energy Council’s Hydrogen Global charter. It is critical that we embrace all the tools available to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and the hydrogen economy can play a significant role. Together we can make a positive impact on the industry and enable a better and faster successful energy transition.”

Dr Angela Wilkinson, Secretary General of the World Energy Council said: “We are delighted to welcome our partner Arup signing Hydrogen Global’s charter. Global demand for energy is rising and there is no quick fix or silver bullet solution to challenges of energy security, equity and affordability and environmental sustainability. New hydrogen pathways can help achieve bolder ambitions for better lives and a healthy planet. Clean hydrogen can reach parts of the global energy system that cannot be electrified.”

AUSTRALIA

Ammonia plant to produce renewable hydrogen

Yara Pilbara Fertilisers has been awarded A$1.0 million for a feasibility study to explore the potential to produce renewable hydrogen at industrial scale at its liquid ammonia production facility in the Pilbara, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced. The renewable hydrogen produced at the ammonia plant will displace 30,000 t/a of hydrogen which Yara currently derives from natural gas. The hydrogen will be blended with hydrogen from reforming to produce ammonia with a lower carbon footprint and sold for further processing into domestic and international markets.

In the long term, Yara says that it is aiming to produce hydrogen and ammonia entirely through renewable energy. The study will be the first step on the path to achieving commercial scale production of renewable hydrogen for export. Yara will collaborate with global energy company ENGIE to deliver the feasibility study. ENGIE has a dedicated hydrogen business unit focused on developing industrial-scale renewable-based hydrogen solutions in international markets.

“Yara’s project will offer great insight into how Australia’s current ammonia producers can transition away from the use of fossil fuels towards renewable alternatives for producing hydrogen while continuing to leverage the substantial export capabilities that those companies have already established,” ARENA CEO, Darren Miller, said. “This project will support future investment in renewable hydrogen from our largest producers, which in turn will provide the economies of scale required to produce renewable hydrogen and ammonia at a competitive price for export.”

SAUDI ARABIA

Air Products joint venture to build Saudi hydrogen hub

Air Products Qudra has broken ground on its fully integrated industrial gases hub in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The company is a joint venture between Air Products and Qudra Energy, a subsidiary of Saudi development and investment company Vision Invest. The industrial gases hub will produce 414 t/d of hydrogen using steam reforming. The project will also include Saudi Arabia’s second hydrogen fuelling station, an air separation unit to produce oxygen and nitrogen, and a hydrogen pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit to recover hydrogen from industrial off-gases, as well as the installation of pipeline networks to transport industrial gases to refining and chemical customers around the region, Air Products said. The hydrogen plant will be of identical size to a plant Air Products announced earlier for the US Gulf Coast of Texas. The Saudi industrial gases facility is due to begin operations in 2023.

Dr. Samir Serhan, Chairman of Air Products Qudra and Executive Vice-President for Air Products, said, “The investment we are making in Jubail is a continuation of our mission to bring world-class technology, on-site solutions, leading project execution and operational leadership for large-scale energy and environmental projects throughout the Middle East region.”

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Gas price discussions get serious

Methanex has managed to agree a two month extension of its natural gas supply contract with the National Gas Company of Trinidad & Tobago (NGC) for its Titan methanol plant, following the one month extension it secured to cover supplies during January. CEO John Floren said that the company is continuing to try and work towards a long term gas contract with NGC. Methanex is working on the assumption of an 85% operating rate for its Trinidad plants, assuming that a gas supply can be secured. However, the company has also said that it would consider closing the Titan plant rather than sign an unprofitable deal with NGC. In an investor conference call, Floren said:

“Well, I think we’re going to pay a higher price for gas in Trinidad. You know we want to pay a price where we can still earn EBITA and invest in the plant, so it’s usually a round price. So when you have these negotiations, that sliding scale with methanol will continue to be in place and we just want to be able to make sure we can survive in the low end of the cycle and do well at the high end of the cycle.” NGC typically sells gas with a price escalator mechanism tied to end product prices.

Methanex’s Titan plant has a capacity of 875,000 t/a of methanol. The company also operates the 1.7 million t/a Atlas unit at the same site.

FRANCE

France launches wind-powered hydrogen plant

Start-up company Lhyfe has raised e8 million to build France’s first wind-powered hydrogen plant in northwest France, with plans to deploy its concept to offshore wind by 2025. The electricity will be generated at an eight turbine offshore wind project at Bouin, 50 km southwest of Nantes, and used to electrolyse water for 300 kg/d of hydrogen production. The hydrogen will be delivered to the nearby town of La Roche-sur-Yon, where a hydrogen station will be installed to fuel the town’s newly-converted fleet of hydrogen-powered buses and refuse collectors.

SWEDEN

Biomethanol for diesel production

Swedish forest-owner association Södra has made its first delivery of biomethanol from its new unit based at Södra’s pulp mill in Mönsterås. The plant uses forest biomass as feedstock. The company made the decision to invest in such a commercial production facility in 2017. The facility recovers 5,000 t/a of methanol from a Kraft mill using Andritz technology. The methanol will then be used for biodiesel production using Danish canola.

BELGIUM

Belgium also looking to wind-powered hydrogen

Belgium is looking to use hydrogen produced by electrolysis as a way of capturing surplus energy from wind turbines when this cannot be absorbed by the local electricity grid. The project, at Ostend on the North Sea coast, will be fuelled by offshore wind turbines. Belgium’s offshore wind generation is due to reach 2 GW of capacity by the end of 2020. However, the turbines’ production peaks rarely coincide with consumer demand peaks, meaning that “there is an opportunity to compensate for the discontinuity between production and consumption,” taccording to the project’s backers. A 50 MW demonstration electrolyser is due for completion in 2022, before a full-scale plant is ramped up in 2025. The final stage of the project aims to reduce CO2 levels by between 500,000 and one million tonnes of CO2 per year.

BOTSWANA

Government renews push for CTL plant

Reuters reports that Botswana is looking to push development of a $4 billion coal to liquids (CTL) plant in the country. Developer state-owned Botswana Oil Ltd issued a tender seeking investors three years ago, but has made no real progress since then. However, Lefoko Maxwell Moagi, minister of mineral resources, green technology and energy security, says that the development will now be “accelerated”, looking towards completion in 2025. Botswana has Africa’s largest coal reserves at 212 billion tonnes. The government says that it has had preliminary discussions with Sasol over the latter’s CTL technology.