Shell Green Lights Largest Hydrogen Plant at German Refinery

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Construction will go ahead on the world's largest hydrogen electrolysis plant at the Rheinland refinery complex in Germany.

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands), which owns the refining complex, and integrated hydrogen energy company ITM Power (Sheffield, England) have agreed to build the hydrogen plant at the refinery's Wesseling site. With an output a 10 megawatts (MW), the hydrogen will be used for the processing and upgrading of products at the refinery as well as testing the technology and exploring application in other sectors. The project, which will cost an estimated 20 million euros ($24.8 million), has secured half of its funding from the European "Fuel Cell Hydrogen Joint Undertaking."

The plant, which will be called Refhyne, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2020 and will be the first industrial-scale test of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) technology process, the partners claimed.

The Rheinland refinery is Germany's largest and requires approximately 180,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually, which is produced by steam reforming from natural gas. The new 10-MW facility will be able to produce an additional 1,300 tonnes of hydrogen per year, which can be fully integrated into the refinery processes, such as for the desulphurization of conventional fuels. The 10-MW electrolyser will use electricity from low-cost renewable sources to split water into the base components of hydrogen and oxygen.

"This new unit at Rheinland enables hydrogen to be made from electricity rather than natural gas," commented Lori Ryerkerk, executive vice president of Shell Manufacturing. "A unit of this kind brings a flexibility that can help the stability of the power grid, thereby facilitating more use of renewable electricity. In addition, if powered by renewable electricity, the green hydrogen will help reduce the carbon intensity of the site--a key goal for us".

Shell Rheinland Refinery General Manager Thomas Zengerly added: "We are pleased to be working collaboratively with the European Union and to assist in developing Europe's future energy system by testing this technology at the Wesseling site. If successful, there is potential for this technology to be expanded at our refinery."

The project was welcomed by the German government. "The establishment of greenhouse gas-neutral industrial processes is one of the greatest challenges of this century," said Michael Theben, head of Climate Protection Department, Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia supports the industry in this transformation process and welcomes the establishment of PEM electrolysis. It is an important building block for future innovative industrial processes."

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