Essar to build UK’S first refinery-based hydrogen furnace
UK-focused downstream energy company Essar plans to install a new £45mn (US$61mn) furnace at Stanlow refinery, the first at a UK refinery capable of using hydrogen as a fuel source, it said February 9.
The furnace will initially run on natural gas but in 2026 will source its fuel from a blue hydrogen plant under development by Vertex Hydrogen, a joint venture between Essar and Progressive Energy.
The Vertex Hydrogen plant is one of several being developed at Stanlow and will be connected to the HyNet North West decarbonisation cluster – one of the UK’s leading industrial decarbonisation projects.
When fully-operational, HyNet North West will capture, use or sequester as much as 10mn mt/yr of CO2-equivalent by 2030.
Essar's hydrogen furnace will replace three existing furnaces that will be decommissioned, reducing Stanlow’s carbon emissions by an expected 16,600 mt/yr of CO2-equivalent or by a further 11% in 2026 once it is fully running on hydrogen.
Set to be installed in 2022, the furnace will become fully operational in 2023.