Andrew Gardner, CEO and chairman at Grangemouth commented: “This is an exciting development and an important step forward for our site. We are determined to reduce our own emissions to Net Zero by 2045, create products that will help others reduce their emissions and play a leading role in a clean hydrogen revolution”
Displacing hydrocarbon fuels for a low carbon future
Viewed as the next significant step in its road map to deliver a sustainable, net zero carbon future at Grangemouth, INEOS is inviting major engineering design contractors to tender for the next stage of the design of a world scale carbon capture enabled hydrogen production plant and major associated infrastructure.
Stuart Collings, CEO INEOS O&P UK, said: “We are progressing at pace with our commitment to deliver our Net Zero plans. This will see the displacement of hydrocarbon fuels used at Grangemouth, like natural gas, with clean, low carbon hydrogen to power our processes and manufacture vital materials used across a wide range of sectors.
“To achieve this, we are inviting bids from the best engineering companies to design both a state-of-the-art carbon capture enabled hydrogen production plant and an extensive suite of related infrastructure projects. The carbon dioxide from this project will be routed to the Scottish Cluster’s Acorn CO2 transport and storage project, resulting in reductions of more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.”
Building on existing emissions reduction projects
INEOS has already committed over £500m on active projects across the site including investment in a New Energy Plant which is due to commission in late 2023. This power plant will employ highly efficient technology to supply energy to all our site operations and will drive down emissions by at least 150,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum. This new power plant will then be converted to run on hydrogen which will further reduce CO2 emissions.
Access to locally-produced hydrogen will have benefits for other assets at the Grangemouth Site, fuelling the existing Combined Heat and Power Plant, the KG Ethylene Plant and assets in the Petroineos Refinery. This will require a new hydrogen distribution network throughout the site and modifications to the existing fuel gas network, all of which are captured within the scope of the engineering design. The scope of design is also planned to provide capability to link the hydrogen production to third parties in the local area to support development of a local hydrogen hub.
“Underpinning our Hydrogen project will be access to the Scottish Cluster carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure,” Stuart explains. “In excess of 1m tonnes per year of CO2 from our hydrogen plant will be sent directly offshore through existing gas pipelines to be permanently stored in rock formations deep below the North Sea.
“We are fully committed to the Scottish Cluster CCS project. We believe it will be an important part of both Scotland and the UK’s drive to Net Zero.”
Andrew commented: “The construction of a world scale low carbon hydrogen plant is an exciting development at Grangemouth and one that will deliver on our commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2045. It builds on the significant CO2 reductions we’ve already made at Grangemouth since we acquired the site in 2005. We are determined to reduce ourown emissions to Net Zero, create products that will help others reduce their emissions and play a leading role in a clean hydrogen revolution.”
The industry commitment to leading the way on future fuels is gathering momentum with the INEOS announcement coming just a day after Essar’s announcement of a £1bn investment in hydrogen venture to supports the company’s future