Jim Ratcliffe Mothballs UK Plants Over ‘Ridiculously High Gas Price’
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
These three paragraphs give more details.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos is mothballing three chemical plants in Hull in response to Britain’s “ridiculously high gas price”.
The plants directly employ 245 people producing acetyls, which are used as raw materials for everything from pharmaceuticals to food and military explosives. Ineos said the sites support almost 4,000 jobs in the wider supply chain across Humberside.
Ineos’s Hull acetyls plants “just cannot compete” as gas prices are now 12 times higher in Britain than in the United States, Ratcliffe said. The plants use gas as a feedstock and also burn hydrogen derived from gas as an energy source to power chemical production.
I don’t think, that this story, is as simple as it seems.
Consider.
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1974 with a degree in chemical engineering.
- The plants in Hull make acetyls.
- The acetyl group has a Wikipedia entry.
- From my own experience, the 1970s was an exciting time for chemical engineering.
- ICI were trying to use a process purchased from BASF to make acetylene, which failed miserably, as all the process did was coat Runcorn in soot.
- Did ICI use the acetylene to make acetyls?
- Google AI says you can make acetyl-containing compounds, such as acetic acid and vinyl acetate, starting from acetylene.
- For a time, I shared an office, with a fellow Liverpool University graduate, who was helping to get the ICI plant working.
In the end the ICI plant was dismantled.
Has Sir Jim Ratcliffe A Connection To HiiROC?
I asked Google AI this question and received this reply.
Yes, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has an indirect financial and strategic connection to HiiROC through his petrochemical company, INEOS.
The INEOS Connection: INEOS backed HydrogenOne Capital Growth—a hydrogen-focused investment fund—which made a £10 million equity investment in HiiROC to develop affordable “turquoise hydrogen” (clean hydrogen produced via thermal plasma electrolysis).
Shared Industrial Projects: HiiROC has collaborated on low-carbon hydrogen projects in the Humberside region close to major INEOS operational footprints, connecting clean-tech hydrogen initiatives with heavy UK industrial chemical hubs.
Note.
- The last paragraph, I clipped from The Times mentioned hydrogen.
- The HiiROC process can use any hydrocarbon gas as feedstock and is five times more energy efficient than traditional electrolysis.
- HiiROC is backed technically by the University of Hull.
- The ICI plant produced loads of soot and HiiROC produces carbon black, so I wonder, if the two processes are by any chance related?
It strikes me that some of the various interests have come up with a route to creating acetyls, that is more efficient.
I suspect Sir Jim Ratcliffe will disclose a clever plan at some time.
What Is The Connection Between The University Of Hull And HiiROC?
I asked Google AI this question and received this reply.
The University of Hull and HiiROC have a collaborative partnership focused on developing clean energy technology.
Nature of the ConnectionTechnology
Collaboration: HiiROC worked collaboratively with the University of Hull (leveraging regional programs like those from the university’s Aura Innovation Centre) to help develop and test Thermal Plasma Electrolysis (TPE).
Clean Energy Innovation: This proprietary TPE technology converts biomethane, flare gas, or natural gas into clean “emerald” hydrogen and valuable solid carbon black without greenhouse gas emissions.
By-Product Research: The partnership includes joint efforts to research potential commercial uses for carbon black, the solid carbon by-product created during HiiROC’s hydrogen-generation process.
Regional Growth: HiiROC established its development and testing facilities in Hull to advance this technology, working alongside local academic and business innovation networks tied to the university.
From my experience in the 1960s at ICI Mond Division in Cheshire, I believe that this could be one of the most important research projects in the UK.
Conclusion
I feel that Sir Jim Ratcliffe made a very shrewd investment in HiiROC.
The Anonymous Widower 