United Kingdom – Linde Engineering has been given a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for H2H Saltend, while BOC has been awarded an operation and maintenance service contract by Equinor.
In order to submit ideas for FEED with options for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and operation and maintenance for the first five years, Linde Engineering and BOC, both Linde firms, engaged in a design competition (subject to EPC option being exercised).
The first plant of its sort and size, H2H Saltend produces low-carbon hydrogen with carbon capture at a 600 megawatt capacity. It contributes to the development of the Humber as an international hub for low-carbon hydrogen. The hydrogen and air separation technologies from Linde Engineering will be incorporated into the plant design, together with the LCHTM technology from UK-based Johnson Matthey. With decades of operating experience in the area and around the UK, BOC will run and maintain the plant.
Reducing emissions
Sited at the energy-intensive Saltend Chemicals Park, east of Hull, it is scheduled to be operational by 2027 and will aid in reducing the park’s emissions by up to one third. To do this, low carbon hydrogen will both be blended into natural gas at the Saltend Power Station owned by Equinor and SSE Thermal and used to directly replace natural gas in a number of industrial facilities to reduce the carbon intensity of their products. Around 890,000 tonnes of CO2 will be stored annually, which is the same as removing 500,000 automobiles from the road.
Regional infrastructure
The larger Zero Carbon Humber program, which will offer regional infrastructure from Easington to Drax, is being kicked off by the H2H Saltend project. The infrastructure will capture carbon dioxide for secure sub-sea storage as part of the East Coast Cluster and transfer hydrogen to industrial users looking to cut their emissions. By 2040, these plans seek to make the Humber, the UK’s industrial region with the highest carbon intensity, net-zero.
The project is also a part of Equinor’s larger “Hydrogen to Humber” initiative, which aims to produce 1.8 gigawatts of low-carbon hydrogen in the area, or about 20% of the UK’s overall objective.
