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| HH Nat Gas | $2.26/MMBtu | +1.3% |
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It may take a team of 10 companies but green hydrogen is happening
A group of 10 companies, called WESTKUESTE 100, have announced that they will be building a 30 MW green hydrogen production plant at a refinery in Germany. The plant will be powered by surplus wind energy, and the oxygen coproduct will be sold to a nearby cement plant.
How can they afford it?
The production of hydrogen from water is done by electrolysis. This method is much more expensive than existing hydrogen production methods, but attracts interest because it can be done with zero emissions. In order to get it done this project is being funded jointly by the 10 partners, as well as $35 million from the German government.
Bigger picture:
Many countries, especially in Europe, are investing in hydrogen as a fuel for heating and transport as a replacement for oil and gas. Last month, Germany agreed on a national hydrogen strategy to decarbonize its economy. They hope to have 5,000 MW of hydrogen electrolysis capacity by 2030. So this new plant, while a great start, is just a drop (30 MW) in the bucket (5,000 MW).
Read more here on GulfNews.
Air Products to chill and compress natural gas in Qatar
Headquartered in Pennsylvania, industrial gases giant Air Products has announced that they will be providing Qatargas with its natural gas liquefaction technology. Qatargas, a joint venture majority-owned by Qatar Petroleum, is currently in the middle of expanding the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
LNG 101:
LNG is the liquid form of natural gas (aka methane and a little bit of ethane). Natural gas is used for heating, electricity generation, and is an important feedstock for countless different chemicals. Not every country has enough natural gas as they demand, so it needs to be transported between regions. By liquifying the natural gas its volume becomes 600 times smaller, allowing it to be shipped overseas where pipelines don't make sense.
Why did they choose Air Products?
The majority of the total LNG produced worldwide is done with Air Products' technology. Their technology "enables significantly higher LNG production without requiring individual equipment items to be significantly larger and provides an efficient and flexible operation over a wide range of production capacities.".
Read the press release here.
Indorama Ventures is making moves to close the loop on PET
Thailand-based petrochemical company, Indorama Ventures (IVL), announced that they have acquired a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling facility in Poland.
What's their goal?
IVL is a world leader in PET production (talked about PET yesterday in IndianOil's announcement). In response to the plastic waste problem, the company is committed to enhancing the circularity of PET. In a statement, they said that the "acquisition is consistent with IVL’s ambitious target in scaling its recycling capacity to reach 750,000 tonnes by 2025", and that they intend on investing "$1.5 billion to achieve this".
Why this plant in Poland?
The Polish recycler they acquired can produce 27,000 tons of recycled PET per year. Poland as a whole actually recycles 260,000 tons of PET per year. This makes Poland a strategic market for IVL, and they see the acquisition as "an attractive recycling platform for IVL in Eastern Europe". A platform acquisition is exactly what it sounds like.
Read the press release here.