Syngas News Roundup

Syngas News

UNITED STATES

Fulcrum starts up waste to fuel plant

Fulcrum BioEnergy says that it has successfully produced low-carbon synthetic crude oil using landfill waste as a feedstock at its Sierra BioFuels Plant, the world’s first commercial-scale landfill waste-to-fuels plant. Located outside of Reno, Nevada, Sierra will produce approximately 11 million gallons of renewable, low-carbon transportation fuels each year from approximately 175,000 t/a of landfill waste.

“This accomplishment is a watershed moment for Fulcrum and opens the door for our plans to transform landfill waste around the world into a low-carbon transportation fuel in a way that will have a profound environmental impact,” said Eric Pryor, Fulcrum’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “After more than a decade of dedication and perseverance, successfully creating a low-carbon fuel entirely from landfill waste validates the strength of our process and our partners’ unwavering belief in and support for our business model. As we continue to work to address global environmental challenges and advance our development program, we aim to replicate our success at Sierra with cost-efficient net-zero carbon plants nationally and ultimately around the globe.”

The plant uses JM and BP’s innovative FT CANS technology to convert syngas from gasified waste into synthetic fuel. JM and BP signed their first licence with Fulcrum to use their technology in 2018. Noemie Turner, VP technology development and commercialisation at BP, said: “We’re excited that commercial-scale use of our Fischer Tropsch technology built on a foundation of top-class research and development, in collaboration with our technology partner, Johnson Matthey could help support the decarbonisation of the transport sector.”

SWEDEN

Ørsted moves ahead with green methanol project

Ørsted says that it has taken a final investment decision to build Europe’s largest green methanol plant, FlagshipONE, to supply green fuel for the shipping industry. Topsoe will provide engineering, procurement and fabrication for the project, including pre-assembled modules for the facility and free-standing equipment such as the methanol reactor and distillation columns, as well as licensing its eMethanol synthesis technology. The plant will be built in Örnsköldsvik in Northern Sweden and is expected to be in operation in 2025. The facility will produce approximately 50,000 t/e ear of green methanol from renewable energy and biogenic CO2 . This is enough to fuel a large ocean going vessel or several ferries, according to the company.

Sundus Cordelia Ramli, member of Liquid Wind’s Board of Directors and CCO for Power-to-X at Topsoe, said: “The shipping industry is one of the single biggest emitters of CO2 , accounting for 3% globally. It makes us proud to be part of this consortium that brings together very capable players to actively bring down this figure. We look forward to bringing our tried and tested methanol technology into this innovative context and to support decarbonisation of the shipping industry alongside Ørsted, a leader in renewable energy.”

Anders Nordstrøm, COO at Ørsted P2X, said: “Ørsted is determined to lead the green transformation of society, and that’s exactly what we’re doing by constructing a project like FlagshipONE. We believe that e-methanol will play a key role in bringing down the carbon emissions from the maritime industry, and alongside key partners like Topsoe, we’re working hard to make that vision come true”

FRANCE

Test runs for power-to-hydrogen-topower demonstrator

ENGIE Solutions, Siemens Energy, Centrax, Arttic, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and four European universities, together forming the Hyflexpower consortium, have announced the successful completion of the first stage of a research project on renewable energy. Located at the Smurfit Kappa Saillat Paper Mill in Saillat-sur-Vienne, this program aims to demonstrate that green hydrogen can serve as a flexible means of storing energy which can then be used to power an industrial turbine. The hydrogen is produced on site with an electrolyser and used in a gas turbine with a mix of 30-vol.% hydrogen and 70 vol.-% natural gas for power generation. The partners describe it as the world’s first industrial-scale power-to-X-to-power demonstrator, and expect to conduct trials this year that will continue to increase the hydrogen ratio up to 100%.

Commenting on the end of the initial testing phase, Gaël Carayon, Project Director at ENGIE Solutions, said: “Ambitious projects like this one require taking partnerships to the next level and being united in a joint mission to make decarbonisation a reality. Hydrogen will play a crucial role in the interaction between renewables and electricity storage and generation. ENGIE Solutions is proud to participate to this unique project.”

NORWAY

Tjelbergodden to shut down for three months

Equinor says that it plans to close its Tjeldbergodden methanol plant from the second week of February until the end of April this year while installing a mercury removal unit. The unit will enable the plant to better handle the condensate from its feed from the offshore Dvalin petroleum field, which contains higher amounts of mercury than the plant’s current systems are designed for. Tjelbergodden is Europe’s largest methanol plant, accounting for around 25% of the continent’s production and has an annual capacity of around 900,000 t/a. It is co-owned by Equinor and ConocoPhillips.

GERMANY

Sustainable aviation fuel from methanol

Sustainable aviation fuels are intended as drop-in replacements for fossil fuel aviation fuel without major modifications to the engines and infrastructure. However, most current SAFs are used in a blend with conventional jet fuel, with the drop-in rate typically limited to a maximum of 50%. Consequently the German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) has launched a two and a half year study with a budget of e5.2 million with the aim of developing a process that, in addition to producing a 100% drop-in capable SAF, also allows the process route used for this to be as selective as possible, with minimal additional CO2 emissions and with a high degree of integrability into existing structures or new installations. The starting point of the process is sustainably produced methanol.

In addition to catalyst development, process development, plant integration and the design of a demo plant, the project also includes techno-economic and ecological analysis as well as accompanying support for the certification and analysis of the new aviation fuels. It brings together a consortium including BASF Process Catalysts, refiner OMV Germany, standards company DLR, testing laboratory ASG, and thyssenkrupp Uhde, the latter of which is developing the technology, optimising the process steps in terms of reaction control and efficiency, integrating the individual processes into an economical and sustainable overall process, designing the demonstration plant and calculating the total investment cost for a commercial plant.

Contract signed for green hydrogen plants

HH2E has signed an agreement with Noway’s Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser AS for a front end engineering and design study and a letter of intent for two 60 MW electrolyser plants in Germany. The FEED will commence after a firm purchase order is made, and the parties intend to conclude a contract for electrolyser equipment within the first half of 2023. The two 60 MW plants will be among the largest green hydrogen production plants in Europe. Both facilities are in the first phase and can be significantly expanded. The hydrogen will be used for industrial applications, transportation, and heat. In total, HH2E is aiming for 4 GW of electrolyser capacity in Germany by 2030.

“One of the prerequisites for reaching our growth ambitions is the sufficient availability of high-quality electrolysers in Europe, such as those that Nel will supply. We are very happy and confident with Nel’s technology and experience”, says Alexander Voigt, Co-founder and board member of HH2E.

SAUDI ARABIA

Methanol plant expansion set for Q1 2023 completion

Saudi Methanol Chemicals Co. (Chemanol) says that the work on its $80 million methanol plant expansion project in Jubail will be complete at the end of the first quarter of 2023. In a filing with the Saudi Stock Exchange, the company said that front-end engineering and design work on the facility was 95% complete. The work was initially due to be finished by the end of 2022, but it faced delays due to the late submission of required information from manufacturers, according to the firm. The expansion will increase capacity at the plant by 100,000 t/a to 330,000 t/a.

AUSTRALIA

Green methanol plant for Tasmania

Spanish energy company Iberdrola has announced plans to invest more than $1.1 billion in a new green methanol plant. It is partnering with developer ABEL Energy to build a green hydrogen and green methanol production plant at Bell Bay in northern Tasmania, which will have a capacity to produce 200,000 t/a of green methanol in its first phase for use as marine fuel. The project, called Bell Bay Powerfuels, would increase to 300,000 t/a in its second phase, making it one of the largest projects of its kind in the world.

A major player in renewable energy with an objective of exceeding 60,000 MW of renewable capacity by 2025, Iberdrola is developing 60 renewable and green H2 initiatives in eight different countries. It has acquired Infigen Energy, Australia’s leading renewable energy company, and plans to invest between $2-3 billion in the country with the aim of reaching 4,000 MW of renewables capacity in the coming years. Last year, Iberdrola acquired the rights to the world’s largest onshore wind farm at Mount James, with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW.

OMAN

Shell signs agreement for synthetic methane production

Shell Oman has signed a letter of intent with Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals to explore the deployment of liquified synthetic gas (LSG) in Oman. LSG is methane produced from renewable hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide, which is then liquefied. This low-carbon fuel can be directly introduced to existing gas networks and infrastructure, including LNG plants such as Oman LNG.

Shell has also taken a 35% stake in Green Energy Oman (GEO), a consortium that is developing the country’s largest renewable green hydrogen project in the Al Wusta and Dhofar governorates. The hydrogen will be produced from up to 25 GW of solar and wind energy. Other members of the consortium include OQ, InterContinental Energy, EnerTech Holding Company, KSCC and Golden Wellspring Wealth for Trading. Worley is providing concept feasibility study services for the project.