Category: Europe

Liquid Wind has announced the development of a new 100,000 t/a green methanol project in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, in collaboration with local energy company Övik Energi. Övik Energi’s combined heat and power plant in Örnsköldsvik was due to be the site of Ørsted’s FlagshipONE project, which was slated to produce 55,000 t/a of green methanol from 2025. A final investment decision (FID) was made in late 2022 when Ørsted bought out Liquid Wind’s 55% stake in the project, but the Danish offshore wind company chose to discontinue FlagshipONE in August 2024.

Gasgrid Finland Oy has awarded Worley a four-year framework agreement with an option for extension until 2032, to provide owners engineering services for Gasgrid’s hydrogen pipeline system development in Finland. This 1,100 km long hydrogen pipeline system is expected to link major hydrogen production and offtake centres across Finland and enable the development of hydrogen export routes to neighbouring markets. Gasgrid says that the planned hydrogen pipeline system will support cost-efficient, reliable and secure renewable energy market development for the Nordic countries and elsewhere in Europe. Worley will provide the OE services primarily through Worley’s offices in the Netherlands and Finland with support from the Global Integrated Delivery (GID) team in India.

Johnson Matthey (JM) has released new production performance data which shows the significant improvements in efficiency of existing steam methane reformer (SMR) based hydrogen plants with the use of its catalyst, CATACEL SSR ™ . The company says that the data show that the catalyst can increase hydrogen plant capacity by 15% and reduce reformer energy use per unit of hydrogen by 15%, with a 5% reduction in gas consumption per unit hydrogen, as well as ease of installation, and enhanced durability and heat transfer. The catalyst uses uniquely engineered structures of thin metal foils, or “fans,” coated with catalysts through a proprietary process, which offer greater surface area, higher durability, and superior heat transfer, essential for high-temperature processes such as SMR.

TotalEnergies has signed agreements with Air Liquide to develop two projects in the Netherlands for the production and delivery of some 45,000 t/a of green hydrogen produced using renewable power, generated mostly by the OranjeWind offshore wind farm, developed by TotalEnergies (50%) and RWE (50%). These projects will cut CO2 emissions from TotalEnergies’ refineries in Belgium and the Netherlands by up to 450,000 t/a and contribute to the European renewable energy targets in transport.

Energy company Mabanaft says that it plans to convert four of its tanks at the Blumensand tank terminal in the Port of Hamburg over the next two years. The company’s aim is to facilitate the import of low-carbon methanol to northern Germany. Mabanaft expects demand for low carbon methanol to grow in future, both in the shipping and other transport sectors, as well as in the chemical industry.

Horisont Energi says that Fertiberia’s participation in the Barents Blue ammonia project will end on February 28th 2025. The two companies had been collaborating on the project since August 2023. Horisont Energi says that it is now looking for additional industrial partners to “further strengthen” the project, which aims to produce 1.0 million t/a of low carbon ammonia using 99% carbon capture at a plant at Markoppnes in northern Norway. Barents Blue has secured sufficient power supply for the first phase of the project, and is supported by a grant via the EU IPCEI hydrogen program, Hy2Use. The project is targeting a final investment decision in 2026 and estimated production start in 2029/2030.

Johnson Matthey (JM) has signed an agreement with Bosch, a leading supplier to the automotive industry, to develop and produce catalyst coated membranes (CCM) for use in fuel cell stacks. JM’s high performance CCMs will be used in Bosch’s integrated, compact and scalable fuel cell power module for commercial vehicles, designed for longer distances.

Repsol has approved a historic €800 million investment in Ecoplanta, a pioneering project in Europe to transform urban waste into renewable fuels and circular products, adding a solution for reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector, while at the same time promoting the circular economy. Located in Tarragona, the facility will be the first in Europe to produce methanol from municipal waste via a gasification process developed by Enerkem - a technology company in which Repsol is a partner – using waste that would otherwise end up in landfills or be incinerated.

Maire Group subsidiary MET Development, together with Eni and utility company Iren Ambiente, have started the permitting process for a renewable methanol and hydrogen plant at Eni’s refinery in Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi near Pavia. The plant will be developed using NextChem’s NX Circular™ technology, which allows the plant to convert waste by generating syngas, which is subsequently used to produce high quality sustainable fuels and chemicals. Once completed, the plant will be able to convert approximately 200,000 t/a of non-recyclable waste supplied by Iren’s waste management unit Iren Ambiente into synthesis gas. This will in turn be converted to produce up to 110,000 t/a of renewable methanol, as a potential fuel for decarbonisation of the maritime sector. It will also produce up to 1,500 t/a of hydrogen, which could be used in refinery processes, reducing CO2 emissions compared to fossil-generated hydrogen, or, alternatively, for sustainable mobility in road and rail transport. The plant will also recover 33,000 t/a of inert granulate, which can be used for the cement industry. The plant will use infrastructure and services already available at the refinery to optimise costs.

LKAB has begun construction of its new demonstration plant for processing phosphorus and rare earth elements at Luleå. The facility is the first in a planned industrial park and, says LKAB, marks an important step in the company's ambition to diversify its business with new minerals. The supply of phosphorus for mineral fertilizers is essential for food security in Sweden and the EU, while rare earth elements are critical for the electrification and digitalisation of society, such as the production of permanent magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines. The $75 million demonstrator plant is planned to become operational in 2026. The aim is to further develop and verify the process for utilizing material flows from iron ore production in Gällivare, where apatite concentrate is produced for further refinement and production of critical minerals in Luleå. Through a stepwise expansion, the operations can then be scaled up with additional processing facilities over time, aiming for full operation during the 2030s. Once fully operational, the industrial park’s production will be approximately seven times Sweden’s needs and 6% of the EU’s demand for phosphorus in agriculture. Currently, there is no mining of rare earth elements in Europe.