Nitrogen+Syngas 372 Jul-Aug 2021
31 July 2021
Syngas News
Syngas News
OMAN
Oman plans to build the world’s largest green hydrogen plant
A consortium has unveiled plans to build one of the largest green hydrogen plants in the world in a bid to make Oman a leader in renewable energy technology. The $30 billion project is being developed by Oman’s state-owned oil firm OQ, green fuels developer InterContinental Energy and Kuwait government-backed renewables investor EnerTech. Construction is scheduled to start in 2028 in Al Wusta governorate on the Arabian Sea. It will be built in stages, with the aim to be at full capacity by 2038, powered by 25 GW of wind and solar energy. Two years has already been spent on solar and wind monitoring analysis for the development. According to the consortium, the site chosen has the optimal diurnal profile of strong wind at night and reliable sun during the day, and is also located near the coast for seawater intake and electrolysis.
The hydrogen is intended for export to Europe and Asia, according to Alicia Eastman, co-founder and president of InterContinental Energy, either as hydrogen or converted into green ammonia, which is easier to ship and store. The facility aims to produce 1.8 million t/a tonnes of green hydrogen and up to 10 million t/a of green ammonia.
Oil and gas currently accounts for 85% of Oman’s GDP, but falling reserves and changes in the global energy industry have led to the country’s Oman Vision 2040 strategy, launched in December 2020, to diversify the economy away from fossil fuels and increase investment in renewables.
MALAYSIA
Contracts awarded for new methanol plant
Following a successful front-end engineering and design (FEED) study in 2019, Air Liquide Engineering & Construction and Samsung Engineering have been awarded the contract to build a methanol plant for Sarawak Petchem, a state-owned oil and gas firm, in Bintulu, Sarawak State, Eastern Malaysia. The new facility is planned to come into operation in 2023 and will produce 5,000 t/d of methanol based on Air Liquide’s Lurgi MegaMethanol™ technology. As part of the agreement, Air Liquide will be the technology licensor, also providing engineering, related equipment as well as an air separation unit with a production capacity of 2,200 tons per day of oxygen.
Cheonhong Park, vice president of Samsung Engineering, stated: “Samsung Engineering and Air Liquide co-developed this project from the pre-feasibility study stage together by implementing exceptional engineering capabilities and showing superb commitment to this project. Through this collaboration, we will successfully deliver the world-scale methanol plant in Sarawak and hope to collaborate with Air Liquide for future joint projects.”
EGYPT
Abu Qir to build methanol and ammonia plants
Abu Qir Fertilizers has agreed to partner with Helwan Fertilizers Company and Al Ahly Capital Holding Company to establish an integrated industrial complex at Ain Sokhna in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The $1.5 billion complex will have a capacity of 1 million t/a of methanol, as well as 400,000 t/a of ammonia. The move follows a feasibility study begun at the end of last year, which also considered a second phase of downstream acetic acid, dimethyl ether (DME) and ammonium nitrate or calcium ammonium nitrate production. A feasibility study on the latter, targeting a potential 2,400 t/d of AN or 3,000 t/d of CAN, is now being carried out by Nexant and expected to be complete in 3Q 2021. In other news, Abu Qir has also commissioned thyssenkrupp Uhde to conduct a study on raising capacity of the urea granulation unit at the company’s Abu Qir 3 production line near Damietta from 1,925 t/d to 2,500 t/d.
NEW ZEALAND
Methanex to cut output at Motunui to save gas
Methanex says that it is temporarily cutting production at its Taranaki site to free up natural gas supplies for electricity generation over the southern hemisphere winter. The company has agreed to a short term gas supply of between 3.4 to 4.4 PJ (petrajoules) to Genesis Energy to support a secure supply of natural gas for the country’s electricity system. Methanex will idle one of its Motunui plants for close to three months during the winter, and release natural gas to support the country’s electricity sector, a joint company statement said.
UNITED STATES
NWIW admits defeat on mega methanol project
Chinese methanol developer Northwest Innovation Works (NWIW) has finally thrown in the towel over attempts to build a large-scale gas-based methanol plant at the port of Kalama in Washington State for export of methanol to China to feed olefins production. The company has notified port officials that it is terminating its lease on the land, effectively killing the project for now. NWIW was looking at up to 3.6 million t/a of methanol production in two stages, but ran into concerted local opposition and was tied up for years in environmental impact studies, particularly as regards greenhouse gas emissions. The company argued that using natural gas in the US with large scale import of renewable electricity for utilities would avoid far greater emissions in China from coal-based methanol production, but failed to convince local authorities, resulting in the rescinding of a shoreline use permit.
Oberon Fuels begins DME production
Oberon Fuels says that the DME production line at its facility in Brawley, California is now on-stream and producing the first commercial renewable dimethyl ether (DME) in the United States. As part of a $6 million project funded in part by a grant from the California Energy Commission, Oberon is converting waste methanol into DME at Brawley. In addition to waste methanol, other potential feedstocks include biogas from dairy waste, food wastes, agricultural waste, as well as excess electricity and CO2, resulting in low carbon to carbon-negative DME, the company said. The plant is expected to produce 1.6 million gallons per year (4,400 t/a) of DME from more than 5,500 t/a of waste material when operating at full capacity.
“This is a critical step on the path to decarbonizing the transportation sector,” said Elliot Hicks, chief operating and technology officer and an Oberon Fuels co-founder. “Our innovative approach uses waste resources to create a flexible molecule that can reduce emissions from fossil fuels, as well as create entirely new, super-clean fuels.”
NETHERLANDS
Waste to methanol facility
GIDARA Energy has announced it is intending to build a waste to methanol plant in Amsterdam; Advanced Methanol Amsterdam (AMA). The plant will convert non-recyclable municipal waste into methanol which can be used in fuel blending, helping to meet governmental objectives to achieve CO2 emission reductions as defined in RED II. The AMA facility will utilise HTW biomass gasification technology, developed by thyssenkrupp with German energy company RWE – GIDARA Energy acquired the process in 2019. AMA will produce around 87,500 t/a of methanol, diverting the waste from 290,000 households that would otherwise be landfilled or incinerated.
Wim van der Zande, CEO at GIDARA Energy, said: “We are in a unique position owning a proven gasification process with a track-record for this application, which eliminates any major process or technology risks. We purposely selected this plant’s capacity and configuration because of the experiences in operated facilities, matching local feedstock availability and local blending capacity. Our focus is to establish the AMA facility and use the same configuration at future locations in The Netherlands, Europe and North America”.
Enerkem switches to waste to fuels production
Enerkem, Shell and the Port of Rotterdam say that their Rotterdam waste-to-chemicals project will be repurposed to manufacture jet fuel instead, to meet growing demand for sustainable aviation fuels. The facility will process up to 360,000 t/a of non-recyclable municipal waste to produce up to 80,000 t/a of products, of which around 75% could be sustainable aviation fuels, and the remainder used for road fuels or to feed circular chemicals production, Enerkem said. The jet fuel would be produced via Enerkem’s waste gasification technology and Shell’s Fischer-Tropsch technology. The partners are looking to submit a permit application for the revised project by the end of 2021. Once the final investment decision has been taken, construction could take around three years, with production starting in 2025 or 2026. Enerkem says that Air Liquide is also interested in partnering the companies as a supplier of industrial gases.
LUXEMBOURG
Low-carbon syngas for the steel industry
Maire Tecnimont subsidiary NextChem has joined forces with Luxembourg-based Paul Wurth, part of the SMS Group and a leading technology provider for the steel industry, to promote the combined use of electrolysis and syngas production in the iron and steel industry. The collaboration is aiming to develop an advanced technological solution to convert natural gas into synthesis gas to be used during iron ore reduction. Using low carbon syngas will decrease the amount of fossil fuels required in the energy-hungry process, reducing CO2 emissions in steel production.
The companies will combine their respective knowledge and expertise to study the integration of electrolysis technology into the syngas production scheme, with the aim of producing low-carbon steel at a competitive cost. Introducing green hydrogen into the metallurgical process allows for the further lowering of the volume of coke required and reduces the carbon footprint of steel plants.
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem commented: “Integrating electrolysis in the revamping of steel furnaces is one of the most interesting challenges nowadays. We are really proud of this agreement, which strengthens the existing alliance between Maire Tecnimont and Paul Wurth to develop low carbon impact solutions in a hard-to-abate sector like the steel industry.”
UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan GTL plant now aiming for Q4 2021 start-up
Uzbekistan has plans to commence production at its first gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in the fourth quarter of this year. The $3.6 billion plant is nearing completion in the Kashkadarya region, with state-owned oil and gas firm Uzbekneftegaz working in partnership with South Africa’s Sasol, the GTL technology supplier. The plant will process 3.6 bcm of gas per year at capacity, generating 1.5 million t/a of synthetic liquid fuels, including 300,000 t/a of kerosene, 725,000 t/a of diesel, 440,000 t/a of naphtha and 50,000 t/a of liquified petroleum gases, for both domestic use and export.
UNITED KINGDOM
ScottishPower considering green hydrogen for Nigg
ScottishPower has contracted Global Energy Group to conduct a feasibility study on developing offshore wind-powered green hydrogen at the Port of Nigg on the northeast coast of Scotland. The study will assess the full potential range of processes that could be supported by hydrogen and the most efficient and innovative way of delivering an end-to-end hydrogen production facility at the port, with potential uses including powering heavy plant machinery and vehicles used in daily operations at the site as well as powering high temperature, energy intensive processes like the manufacturing of offshore wind components. The partnership will be one of the first projects led by ScottishPower’s new Green Hydrogen Business, launched in December 2020. Port of Nigg already supports some of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms and is expected to play a key role in the fabrication and manufacturing of Scotland’s growing offshore wind sector.
BELGIUM
Hydrogen refuelling station
CMB.TECH has opened the first multimodal hydrogen refuelling station at the Port House in Antwerp. It is the first refuelling station in the world that produces green hydrogen, which will be used to power ships, tube trailers, cars, trucks and buses. In addition to the hydrogen refuelling station, CMB.TECH will today launch a hydrogen truck with the symbolic name: Lenoir, a reference to the French-speaking Belgian who in 1860 built the first internal combustion engine powered by hydrogen. Among the vessels served will be the Hydroville, the world’s first hydrogen-powered passenger ship. Until now, the Hydroville has been supplied with hydrogen by a mobile hydrogen refuelling station, but the new station will allow it to refuel in Antwerp.
Roy Campe, CTO of CMB.TECH said: “In the future ports will become hydrogen hot spots, because they have a large concentration of applications that are difficult to electrify. In addition, many ports will have access to hydrogen, either through large electrolysis plants or through imports. We are therefore very pleased that, after two and a half years of development, we are now able to put the station into operation.”
SPAIN
Green methanol for Galicia
Energy supplier Iberdrola and European chemical company Foresa have plans to investment in renewable hydrogen for the production of green methanol at Foreasa’s site in Galicia on Spain’s northwest coast. Options under consideration include construction of a 20 MW green hydrogen plant, expandable to 200 MW, and/or CO2 capture equipment. The methanol would be used in Foresa’s chemical processes for the downstream production of wood glues and resins, and a surplus could be exported in the future. The investment, which is eligible for Next Generation EU funds, would exceed e82 million in the first phase, producing 10,000 t/a of methanol, and could reach e400 million in its expansion, when up to 100,000 t/a of methanol would be produced.
Blueprint for green hydrogen revolution
Siemens Gamesa has launched an industry white paper; Unlocking the Green Hydrogen Revolution, which outlines an ambitious plan to deliver cost-competitive green hydrogen by 2030 from onshore wind and by 2035 from offshore wind. Siemens Gamesa calls for a joined-up approach to encouraging both market demand and scaling production, highlighting four key requirements to deliver low-cost green hydrogen within the next decade:
1. Increase drastically the capacity of renewables because the green hydrogen revolution relies on this. The world needs up to 6,000 GW of new installed renewable energy capacity by 2050, up from 2,800 GW today to generate the expected demand for hydrogen (500 million tonnes, according to the Hydrogen Council).
2. Create a cost-effective demand-side market for green hydrogen to drive down the costs of equipment, infrastructure and day-to-day operating costs. Currently, the main operating cost for green hydrogen production is powering the electrolysers, so a decrease in energy costs lowers the cost of the hydrogen and increases demand.
3. Develop the supply chain as no one provider can own the entire production and distribution process. At the moment, initiatives are fragmented, and therefore costly, meaning renewable energy companies, electrolyser manufacturers, network providers and water treatment specialists need to work together to build a resilient supply chain.
4. Build the right infrastructure in terms of logistics, storage and distribution. There needs to be investment in hydrogen pipeline networks to unlock the potential of green hydrogen.
Andreas Nauen, Siemens Gamesa CEO, said, “When it comes to green hydrogen, we need to act now. It took three decades for wind and solar to reach grid parity with fossil fuels, and we cannot afford to wait that long for green hydrogen to reach price parity with fossil-based hydrogen. Wind will play a powerful role in accelerating the production of green hydrogen, which is vital to decarbonizing our economy. Therefore, to unlock the potential of green hydrogen, we need to drive down costs quickly. To do this, we need a consensus between industry, policymakers and investors to rapidly develop the demand-side market, build the supply chain and roll out the necessary infrastructure.”
ITALY
Feasibility study on hydrogen plant
Maire Tecnimont’s NextChem has signed an agreement with Mytilineos’ Renewable and Storage Development Business Unit (RSD BU) have signed an agreement to develop engineering activities for the implementation of a green hydrogen plant via electrolysis in Italy. Mytilineos is active in the development, construction and operation of utility-scale solar and hybrid power projects, with over 1 GW of medium to large scale solar projects installed worldwide. The project, which will convert renewable energy from one of Mytilineos’ solar plants into green hydrogen, is intended to be followed by other plants as well, aiming to provide local off-takers with a carbon neutral energy carrier alternative that could allow for effective decarbonisation including in hard-to-abate industrial sectors.
Pierroberto Folgiero, chief executive officer of Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem, commented: “NextChem is a front runner in the development of a hydrogen-based green economy: we have four technological solutions for hydrogen production in our portfolio, with different levels of carbon intensity. Among these, green hydrogen is the most ambitious one from an economic and environmental point of view and we are already working on it, both in Italy and abroad. This collaboration with Mytilineos is extremely promising and gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of an approach aimed at creating integrated platforms of plant solutions for the energy transition”.
DENMARK
Partnership for methanol fuel cells
Blue World Technologies is partnering with Clayton Power to develop a small-scale mobile methanol fuel cell solutions for stationary and auxiliary power. The target is to develop a solution in the 5 to 15-kW power range. The methanol fuel cell power unit can be applied to trucks to power appliances such as air conditioning and TV. The methanol fuel cell solution combines Blue World Technologies’ proprietary high-temperature proton exchange membrane technology, and Clayton Power’s lithium-ion batteries to provide an instant- and continuous power supply. The effort is supported by Danish Energy Agency through the EUDP (Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program) and includes Aalborg University as a key knowledge partner.
IRELAND
Green hydrogen facility for Cork Harbour
Plans have been announced for Ireland’s first green hydrogen facility, located in the harbour of Cork on the southwest coast. Energy firm EI-H2 intends to seek planning permission for a 50 MW electrolysis plant in Aghada, which when operational in 2023 will produce 20 t/d of green hydrogen at an estimated investment cost of e120 million, using surplus electricity from offshore wind power.
EI-H2 is owned by Cork businessman, Pearse Flynn, who says that Ireland is starting to take leadership in tackling climate change. “The production of hydrogen from excess wind capacity will play a significant role in Ireland’s decarbonisation, given that Ireland could be generating 8 GW of offshore wind by 2030. There inevitably will be ‘curtailed’ energy that will go to waste unless we find ways of using it. EI-H2 is planning the production of safe and environmentally sound green hydrogen that will allow industry to decarbonise.”
The proposed site has been selected because of its proximity to an existing triangle of energy generation, including power generating stations, heavy industry and an oil refinery. There is also potential to export green hydrogen in the future using a fleet of environmentally friendly ships.
AUSTRALIA
Wärtsilä and Global Energy Ventures to cooperate on hydrogen engines
The technology group Wärtsilä has signed a memorandum of understanding with Global Energy Ventures (GEV) of Australia, a company specialised in delivering compressed shipping solutions for transporting energy to regional markets. The two companies will cooperate on the inclusion of Wärtsilä propulsion systems in GEV’s compressed hydrogen ships. The cooperation aims at advancing GEV’s approval in principle application for its new 430tonne compressed hydrogen and is also intended to demonstrate the availability of a highly efficient, low-emissions propulsion system for the vessel.
“We look forward to working closely with Wärtsilä on this project. We have shown that C-H2 shipping is ideally suited for exporting green hydrogen with a lower delivered cost and having a technology leader such as Wärtsilä with us, we can deliver a shipping solution that is completely sustainable,” said Martin Carolan, CEO, GEV.
