INEOS Launches A New Clean Hydrogen Business To Accelerate The Drive To Net Zero Carbon Emissions
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from inovyn, which is an INEOS company.
The press release starts with these points.
- The targets set out by the UN and National Governments around the world requires concrete action. INEOS is aiming not only to contribute by decarbonising energy for its existing operations, but also by providing hydrogen that will help other businesses and sectors to do the same.
- The new business will be based in the UK and will invest in ‘first intent’ Clean Hydrogen production across Europe.
- The production of hydrogen based on electrolysis, powered by zero carbon electricity, will provide flexibility and storage capacity for heat and power, chemicals and transport markets.
- The European Union Hydrogen Strategy, which outlines an infrastructure roadmap for widespread utilisation of hydrogen, across Europe by 2030, present new opportunities for the business.
- Geir Tuft CEO INOVYN said, “INEOS is uniquely placed to play a leading role in developing these new opportunities, driven by emerging demand for affordable, low-carbon energy sources, combined with our existing capabilities in operating large-scale electrolysis.”
With revenue in 2019 of $85 billion in 2019, INEOS has the financial resources to make their ambitions come true.
These are my thoughts on statements in the press release.
Geir Tuft’s Statement
Geir Tuft is reported in the press release as saying.
INEOS is uniquely placed to play a leading role in developing these new opportunities, driven by emerging demand for affordable, low-carbon energy sources, combined with our existing capabilities in operating large-scale electrolysis.
This is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for electrolysis.
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from naturally occurring sources such as ores using an electrolytic cell. The voltage that is needed for electrolysis to occur is called the decomposition potential.
From my experience of working in ICI’s hydrogen plant at Runcorn in the 1970s and my knowledge of the technology and companies involved in the production of hydrogen, there are two standard routes to produce hydrogen by electrolysis.
- Water can be electrolysed as in the classic school physics experiment to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
- Brine can be electrolysed to produce hydrogen, chlorine, sodium metal and sodium hydroxide.
I worked as an instrument engineer in a plant, where brine was electrolysed using the Caster-Kellner process. As the process uses mercury, it is a process that is not without problems. There is a History section in the Wikipedia entry for the Castner-Kellner process, from where this was extracted.
The mercury cell process continues in use to this day. Current-day mercury cell plant operations are criticized for environmental release of mercury leading in some cases to severe mercury poisoning as occurred in Japan Minamata_disease. Due to these concerns, mercury cell plants are being phased out, and a sustained effort is being made to reduce mercury emissions from existing plants.
My work in the plant, involved developing instruments to measure the mercury in the air inside the plant. I was also developing other instruments and programming a Ferranti Argus 500 computer.
Because of the death of her father, C wasn’t happy in Liverpool and when the chance came of a transfer to ICI Plastics at Welwyn Garden City, I took it.
In his statement Geir Tuft says this.
Combined with our existing capabilities in operating large-scale electrolysis.
Large-scale electrolysis was certainly handled professionally in 1970 and I’m certain that INEOS, which now owns the Runcorn plant, handles the hydrogen just as well, if not better with the help of modern technology.
Hydrogen As A By-Product
In some ways, fifty years ago, the hydrogen was considered a by-product and to some a nuisance, as I don’t think, there was much of a mass market for the gas.
I used to see it being taken away in specialist trailers, but there didn’t seem to be a major use.
300,000 Tonnes Of Clean Hydrogen
This paragraph of the press release, outlines the structure of the business.
INEOS has today launched a new business to develop and build Clean Hydrogen capacity across Europe, in support of the drive towards a zero-carbon future. INEOS currently produces 300,000 tonnes of hydrogen a year mainly as a co-product from its chemical manufacturing operations.
Note that co-product is used, but I suspect in many places they have too much of it, so new markets are welcome.
I have used a figure of 23 MWh, as being needed to obtain ten tonnes of hydrogen, but I can’t find where I obtained it. If it is correct then INEOS will need 690 GWh of electricity.
INEOS, Electrolysis And Hydrogen
This paragraph of the press release, outlines the relationship between INEOS, electrolysis and hydrogen
Through its subsidiary INOVYN, INEOS is Europe’s largest existing operator of electrolysis, the critical technology which uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen for power generation, transportation and industrial use. Its experience in storage and handling of hydrogen combined with its established know-how in electrolysis technology, puts INEOS in a unique position to drive progress towards a carbon-free future based on hydrogen.
All they need is the renewable energy, to add to their expertise in turning it into hydrogen.
INEOS’s Vision
This paragraph of the press release, outlines INEOS vision for hydrogen.
INEOS is already involved in several projects to develop demand for hydrogen, replacing existing carbon-based sources of energy, feedstocks and fuel. It expects to develop further partnerships with leading organisations involved in the development of new applications. INEOS will also work closely with European Governments to ensure the necessary infrastructure is put in place to facilitate hydrogen’s major role in the new Green Economy.
It is certainly a comprehensive vision.
The Conclusion Of The Press Release
Wouter Bleukx, Business Unit Manager Hydrogen has said this.
Hydrogen is an important part of a climate neutral economy that has been discussed for decades. Finally, a hydrogen-fuelled economy is within reach as transportation in the UK, Germany, France and other countries begins to run on this carbon free technology. With extensive experience in electrolysis, INEOS is uniquely placed to support these new opportunities, driven by emerging demand for affordable zero-carbon energy sources.
You can’t say the company lacks ambition.
Conclusion
This looks to me to be ambition and disruptive innovation on a grand scale.
But it is a plan that can only get bigger and more far reaching.
If the company succeeds, I believe, it will bring hydrogen for all.
Frankfurt Starts Building Fuel Station For World’s Biggest Zero-Emissions Train Fleet
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Reuters.
These are the two opening paragraphs.
German regional transport group RMV began construction on Monday of a filling station near Frankfurt that will use hydrogen generated as a by-product of chemicals manufacturing to fuel the world’s largest fleet of zero-emissions passenger trains.
France’s Alstom will deliver 27 hydrogen-powered fuel cell trains to the Infraserv Hoechst industrial park in the Rhine-Main region in mid-2022. Starting regular local services by that winter, the fleet will replace diesel engines.
All the investment will be partly funded by fares.
Chlorine Manufacture
I find it interesting, that the article also states that the hydrogen comes as a by-product of chlorine manufacture. When I worked in a ICI’s electrolysis plant around 1970, their plant used the Castner-Kellner process to produce both gases.
The process uses a lot of mercury and Wikipedia says this about the future of the process.
The mercury cell process continues in use to this day. Current-day mercury cell plant operations are criticized for environmental release of mercury leading in some cases to severe mercury poisoning as occurred in Japan Minamata_disease. Due to these concerns, mercury cell plants are being phased out, and a sustained effort is being made to reduce mercury emissions from existing plants.
Are INEOS, who now own the Runcorn plant, and the Germans still using the Castner-Kellner process?
I remember two stories about the theft of mercury from the Runcorn plant.
Mercury was and probably still is very valuable, and it was always being stolen. So ICI put a radioactive trace in the mercury, which didn’t affect the process. The result was that all legitimate metal dealers on Merseyside bough Geiger counters to check any mercury before they bought it.
One guy thought he had found the ideal way to steal mercury, so he filled his bike frame with the metal and wheeled it to the gate. Whilst he clocked out, he propped the bike against the gate-house. Unfortunately, it fell over and because of the weight of the mercury, he was unable to pick it up.
My work in the plant, involved devising a portable instrument that would detect mercury in air and a colleague’s project was to develop a way of detecting mercury in urine samples from the plant operatives.
Those projects say a lot, about why we should be careful around any process involving mercury.
£100m Station Revamp Could Double Local Train Services
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Northern Echo.
This is the opening paragraph.
Officials behind plans for a £100m-plus transformation of Darlington’s Bank Top Station have confirmed it will remain the only one on the East Coast Mainline without a platform specifically for the London to Scotland service.
Darlington station has made various appearances in my life, all of which have been pleasurable ones.
I went several times to ICI’s Wilton site on Teesside in the 1970s, when the route to London was worked by the iconic Class 55 locomotives or Deltics.
I wrote about one memorable trip home from Darlington in The Thunder of Three-Thousand Three-Hundred Horses.
Over the years, I also seem to have had several clients for my computing skills in the area, including the use of my data analysis software; Daisy at Cummins Engines in the town.
And lately, it’s been for football at Middlesbrough to see Ipswich play, where I’ve changed trains. Sometimes, Town even won.
The improvements planned for the station are two-fold.
Improvement Of Local Services
This paragraph from Wikipedia, sums up the local train services on the Tees Valley Line between Saltburn and Bishop Auckland via Darlington, Middlesbrough and Redcar.
Northern run their Tees Valley line trains twice hourly to Middlesbrough, Redcar and Saltburn (hourly on Sundays), whilst the Bishop Auckland branch has a service every hour (including Sundays). The company also operates two Sundays-only direct trains to/from Stockton and Hartlepool.
If ever a route needed improvement it is this one.
This paragraph from the Northern Echo article, outlines the plans for Darlington station.
The meeting was also told the overhaul, which will see new platforms, a new station building, parking and an interchange for passengers, alongside other improvements, would also double capacity on Tees Valley and Bishop Auckland lines, meaning four trains an hour on the former and two trains an hour on the latter.
I also believe that the route is a shoe-in for zero-carbon services; hydrogen or battery electric.
Hydrogen Trains On Teesside
In Fuelling The Change On Teesside Rails, I discuss using hydrogen powered trains for the lines in the area and they could certainly provide services on more than just the Tees Valley Line.
- Teesside certainly has big plans for hydrogen to fuel its chemical industry.
- Hydrogen powered transport in the area has been backed by the Government, as I wrote about in Tees Valley Wins £1.3million Project To Bring Hydrogen Vehicles To The Region.
- Plans are advancing for a depot for hydrogen-powered trains at Lackenby.
The hydrogen powered trains would probably be this Alstom Breeze.
They would appear to be in pole position to change the image of Teesside’s trains.
Battery Electric Trains On Teesside
But I suspect. that an Anglo-Japanese partnership, based in the North-East could have other ideas.
- Hitachi have a train factory at Newton Aycliffe on the Tees Valley Line.
- Hyperdrive Innovation design and produce battery packs for transport and mobile applications in Sunderland.
The two companies have launched the Regional Battery Train, which is described in this Hitachi infographic.
Note than 90 kilometres is 56 miles, so the train has a very useful range.
Hitachi have talked about fitting batteries to their express trains to serve places like Middlesbrough, Redcar and Sunderland with zero-carbon electric services.
But their technology can also be fitted to their Class 385 trains and I’m sure that Scotland will order some battery-equipped Class 385 trains to expand their vigorous electric train network.
Both Scotland and Teesside will need to charge their battery trains.
Example distances on Teesside include.
- Darlington and Saltburn – 28 miles
- Darlington and Whitby – 47 miles
- Darlington and Bishop Auckland – 12 miles
The last route would be possible on a full battery, but the first two would need a quick battery top-up before return.
So there will need to be strategically-placed battery chargers around the North-East of England. These could include.
- Hexham
- Nunthorpe
- Redcar or Saltburn – This would also be used by TransPennine Express’s Class 802 trains, if they were to be fitted with batteries.
- Whitby
If Grand Central did the right thing and ran battery electric between London and Sunderland, there would probably be a need for a battery charger at Sunderland.
It appears that Adrian Shooter of Vivarail has just announced a One-Size-Fits-All Fast Charge system, that has been given interim approval by Network Rail.
I discuss this charger in Vivarail’s Plans For Zero-Emission Trains, which is based on a video on the Modern Railways web site.
There is more about Vivarail’s plans in the November 2020 Print Edition of the magazine, where this is said on page 69.
‘Network Rail has granted interim approval for the fast charge system and wants it to be the UK’s standard battery charging system’ says Mr. Shooter. ‘We believe it could have worldwide implications.’
I believe that Hitachi and Hyperdrive Innovation, with a little bit of help from friends in Seaham, can build a battery-electric train network in the North-East.
The Choice Between Hydrogen And Battery Electric
Consider.
- The hydrogen trains would need a refuelling system.
- The battery electric trains would need a charging structure, which could also be used by other battery electric services to and from the North-East.
- No new electrification or other infrastructure would be needed.
- If a depot is needed for the battery electric trains, they could probably use the site at Lackenby, that has been identified as a base for the hydrogen trains.
Which train would I choose?
I think the decision will come down to politics, money and to a certain extent design, capacity and fuel.
- The Japanese have just signed a post-Brexit trade deal and France or rather the EU hasn’t.
- The best leasing deal might count for a lot.
- Vivarail have stated that batteries for a battery electric train, could be leased on a per mile basis.
- The Hitachi train will be a new one and the Alstom train will be a conversion of a thirty year old British Rail train.
- The Hitachi train may well have a higher passenger capacity, as there is no need for the large hydrogen tank.
- Some people will worry about sharing the train with a large hydrogen tank.
- The green credentials of both trains is not a deal-breaker, but will provoke discussion.
I feel that as this is a passenger train, that I’m leaning towards a battery electric train built on the route.
An Avoiding Line Through Darlington
The Northern Echo also says this about track changes at the station.
A meeting of Darlington Borough Council’s communities and local services scrutiny committee was told a bus lane-style route off the mainline at the station would enable operators to run more high-speed services.
Councillors heard that the proposed track changes would enable very fast approaches to Darlington and allow other trains to pass as East Coast Mainline passengers boarded.
Some councillors seem to be unhappy about some trains passing through the station without stopping.
Are their fears justified?
This Google Map shows Darlington station.
Note.
- The station has two long platforms and two South-facing bay platforms.
- There is plenty of space.
- There already appear to be a pair of electrified avoiding lines on the Eastern side of the station.
Wikipedia also says this about how Darlington station will be changed by High Speed Two.
The new high speed rail project in the UK, High Speed 2, is planned to run through Darlington once Phase 2b is complete and will run on the existing East Coast Main Line from York and Newcastle. Darlington Station will have two new platforms built for the HS2 trains on the Main Line, as the station is built just off the ECML to allow for freight services to pass through.
This would appear to suggest that the two current avoiding lines will be turned into high speed platforms.
Current High Speed Services At Darlington
The current high speed services at Darlington are as follows.
- LNER – two trains per hour (tph) – London Kings Cross and Edinburgh
- Cross Country – one tph – Plymouth and Edinburgh or Glasgow
- Cross Country – one tph – Southampton and Newcastle
- TransPennine Express – one tph – Liverpool and Edinburgh
- TransPennine Express – one tph – Manchester Airport and Newcastle
Northbound, this gives eight tph to Newcastle and four tph to Edinburgh
East Coast Trains
East Coast Trains‘s services are not planned to stop at Darlington.
High Speed Two Trains
Darlington is planned to be served by these High Speed Two trains.
- 1 tph – Birmingham Curzon Street and Newcastle via East Midlands Hub, York and Durham
- 1 tph – London Euston and Newcastle via Old Oak Common and York.
Both will be 200 metre High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains
Northbound, this gives ten tph to Newcastle and four tph to Edinburgh.
As the Eastern Leg of High Speed Two has some spare capacity, I suspect there could be other services through Darlington.
Improvements To The East Coast Main Line
If you look at the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and Newcastle, the route is a mixture of two and four-track railway.
- Between Doncaster and York, there are two tracks
- Between York and Northallerton, there are four tracks
- Between Northallerton and Darlington, there are two tracks
- North of Darlington, the route is mainly two tracks.
I have flown my virtual helicopter along much of the route and I can say this about it.
- Much of the route is through agricultural land, and where absolutely necessary extra tracks could possibly be added.
- The track is more-or-less straight for large sections of the route.
- Routes through some towns and cities, are tightly hemmed in by houses.
I also believe that the following developments will happen to the whole of the East Coast Main Line before High Speed Two opens.
- Full ERTMS in-cab digital signalling will be used on all trains on the route.
- The trains will be driven automatically, with the driver watching everything. Just like a pilot in an airliner!
- All the Hitachi Class 80x trains used by operators on the route, will be able to operate at up to 140 mph, once this signalling and some other improvements have been completed.
- All level crossings will have been removed.
- High Speed Two is being built using slab track, as I stated in HS2 Slab Track Contract Awarded. I suspect some sections of the East Coast Main Line, that are used by High Speed Two services, will be upgraded with slab track to increase performance and reduce lifetime costs.
Much of the East Coast Main Line could become a 140 mph high speed line, as against High Speed Two, which will be a 225 mph high speed line.
This will mean that all high speed trains will approach Darlington and most other stations on the route, at 140 mph.
Trains will take around a minute to decelerate from or accelerate to 140 mph and if the station stop took a minute, the trains will be up to speed again in just three minutes. In this time, the train would have travelled two-and-a-half miles.
Conclusion
I think that this will happen.
- The Tees Valley Line trains will be greatly improved by this project.
- Trains will generally run at up to 140 mph on the East Coast Main Line, under full digital control, like a slower High Speed Two.
- There will be two high speed platforms to the East of the current station, where most if not all of the High Speed Two, LNER and other fast services will stop.
- There could be up to 15 tph on the high speed lines.
With full step-free access between the high speed and the local platforms in the current station, this will be a great improvement.
Microwaves Could Turn Plastic Waste Into Hydrogen Fuel
This headline from this article in The Times could be the headline of the day!
Although thinking about it, it wouldn’t be a good idea to put all your plastic waste in the microwave and switch it on. It might catch fire or even worse create lots of hydrogen in your kitchen, which could be followed by a mini-Hindenburg disaster in the kitchen.
These are the introductory paragraphs.
From the yellowed bottles in landfill to the jellyfish-like bags clogging the oceans, plastics pollution is an apparently intractable problem.
Yet, chemists lament, it shouldn’t be. Within this waste there is something extremely useful, if only we could access it: hydrogen. Now a British team of scientists believes it has found a way to get at it, and do so cheaply, thanks to tiny particles of iron and microwaves.
If their system works at scale they hope it could be a way of cheaply converting useless plastic into hydrogen fuel and carbon.
Don’t we all want to believe that this impossible dream could come true?
Some Background Information
Some of the things I talk about will be technical, so I will have a bit of a preamble.
Hydrogen; Handling And Uses
Because of pre-World War Two airships, which tended to catch fire and/or crash, hydrogen has a bad reputation.
I used to work as an instrument engineer in a hydrogen plant around 1970. To the best of my knowledge the plant I worked in is still producing hydrogen in the same large building at Runcorn.
Hydrogen is one of those substances, that if you handle with care, it can be one of the most useful elements in the world.
It is a fuel that burns creating a lot of energy.
The only by-product of hydrogen combustion is steam.
It is one of the feedstocks for making all types of chemicals like ethylene, fertilisers, ammonia, pharmaceuticals and a wide range of hydrocarbons.
Hydrogen is a constituent of natural gas and in my youth, it was a constituent of town gas.
Hydrogen and hydrocarbons are involved in the manufacture of a lot of plastics.
In the future, hydrogen will have even more uses like making steel and cement, and powering railway trains and locomotives, and shipping of all sizes.
Hydrocarbons
According to Wikipedia, hydrocarbons are compounds consisting entirely of atoms of hydrogen and carbon.
In a kitchen, there are several hydrocarbons.
- If you cook by gas, you will probably be burning natural gas, which is mainly methane, which is a hydrocarbon
- Some might use propane on a barbecue, which is another hydrocarbon.
- I suspect you have some polythene or polyethylene, to use the correct name, in your kitchen. This common plastic is chains of ethylene molecules. Ethylene is another hydrocarbon.
- There will also be some polypropylene, which as the name suggests is made from another hydrocarbon; propylene.
Hydrocarbons are everywhere
Plastics
I used to work in two ICI divisions; Mond at Runcorn and Plastics at Welwyn Garden City
- The forerunners of ICI Mond Division invented polyethylene and when I worked at Runcorn, I shared an office, with one of the guys, who had been involved before the Second World War. in the development of polyethylene.
- Plastics Division used to make several plastics and I was involved in various aspects of research plant design and production.
One day, I’ll post in this blog, some of the more interesting and funnier stories.
Many plastics are made by joining together long chains of their constituent molecules or monomer.
- Ethylene is the monomer for polyethylene.
- Propylene is the monomer for polypropylene.
- Vinyl chloride is the monomer for polyvinylchloride or PVC.
So how are the chains of molecules built?
- Polyethylene was made by ICI. by applying large amounts of pressure to ethylene gas in the presence of a catalyst.
- They used to make polypropylene in large reaction vessels filled with oil, using another catalyst.
I suspect both processes use large quantities of energy.
Catalysts
A catalyst is a substance which increases the rate of a chemical reaction.
Judging by the number of times, I find new catalysts being involved in chemical reactions, the following could be true.
- There are processes, where better catalysts can improve yields in the production of useful chemicals.
- There is a lot of catalyst research going on.
Much of this research in the UK, appears to be going on at Oxford University. And successfully to boot!
Velocys
It should be noted that Velocys was spun out of Oxford University, a few years ago.
- The company appears to have improved the Fischer-Tropsch process.
- They are building a waste-to-aviation biofuel plant in Lincolnshire.
- They are backed by British Airways, Shell and UK plc.
This infographic shows their process.
This could be a route to net-zero carbon aviation and heavy haulage.
The beauty is that there would need to be little modification to existing aircraft and trucks.
Oxford University’s Magic Process
These paragraphs from The Times article explain their process.
The clue came in research on particles of iron, and what happens when they get really small. “There’s a fascinating problem,” Professor Edwards said. “You take a bit of metal, and you break it into smaller and smaller bits. At what stage does it stop behaving like a copy of the bigger bit?”
When the particle gets below a critical size, it turns out it’s no longer a metal in the standard sense. The electrical conductivity plummets, and its ability to absorb microwaves does the reverse, increasing by ten orders of magnitude.
Professor Edwards realised that this could be useful. “When you turn on the microwaves, these things become little hotspots of heat,” he said. When he put them in a mix of milled-up plastic, he found that they broke the bonds between the hydrogen and carbon, without the expense and mess of also heating up the plastic itself.
What is left is hydrogen gas, which can be used for fuel, and lumps of carbon nanotubes, which Professor Edwards hopes might be of a high enough grade to have a use as well. The next stage is to work with industry to find ways to scale it up.
It sounds rather amazing.
Going Large!
This article from The Times on Friday, is entitled Plastic To Be Saved From Landfill By Revolutionary Recycling Plants.
These are the two introductory paragraphs.
Thousands of tonnes of plastic waste will be turned into new plastic in Britain rather than dumped in landfill sites, incinerated or sent overseas under plans for four new plants that will use cutting-edge recycling technology.
Up to 130,000 tonnes of plastic a year will be chemically transformed in the facilities, which are to be built in Teesside, the West Midlands and Perth.
It all sounds like technology, that can transform our use of plastics.
Conclusion
In the years since I left Liverpool University in 1968 with a degree in Electrical and control Engineering, it has sometimes seemed to me, that chemistry has been a partly neglected science.
It now seems to be coming to the fore strongly.
Memories Of Althorpe
On The way to Cleethorpes, I passed through Althorpe station.
This Google Map shows the area.
Note.
- The River Trent flowing South to North.
- Keadby power station at the top of the map.
- Althorpe station close to the bridge over the river.
- The village of Althorpe is at the South of the map by the river.
C and myself had friends, who farmed much of the land in the curve of river, South of the railway.
These are a few tales, some might enjoy.
Althorpe And Princess Diana’s Grave
I was once told, that regularly tourists would appear looking for the last resting place of Princess Diana.
Sat-navs may be a wonderful gadget for some, but they do lead those with a certain lack of common sense on wild goose chases.
C And The Tug-Boats
C once spent a night in their farmhouse, which was by the River Trent.
She didn’t sleep well, as tug-boats pulling barges were constantly going past and sounding their sirens. The river was actually above the house, due to the embankments to stop flooding.
Princess Anne And The Centrefold
Our friends’ daughter was a very good rider in eventing and used to supplement her variable income in the sport with modelling. At one point, I used her for some promotional shots for one of my companies.
Some years ago, she was competing at an event in Yorkshire. Coincidentally, this was just after she had appeared as the centrefold in a well-known men’s magazine.
The event was a bit of a nightmare for her, as paparazzi were following her with open copies of the magazine.
At one point, it all got a bit much, so she decided to sneak back to the calm of her horsebox, by a circuitous route.
As she walked back, she encountered Princess Anne, who was also competing and using the same route to avoid the paparazzi.
They talked about the pressures of the paparazzi, who were being a nuisance, with the Princess saying, she approved of my friends’ daughter’s modelling and hoped it continued, as it had taken the pressure off herself.
Flixborough
My friends’ farm was not far from Flixborough, which is infamous for the Flixborough Disaster in 1974, when a chemical plant exploded and killed 28 people and seriously injured a further 36.
My friends also lost several thousand pigs because of the explosion.
Wikipedia says this about the cause of the explosion.
The disaster involved (and may well have been caused by) a hasty modification. There was no on-site senior manager with mechanical engineering expertise (virtually all the plant management had chemical engineering qualifications); mechanical engineering issues with the modification were overlooked by the managers who approved it, nor was the severity of the potential consequences of its failure appreciated.
At the time, I had just left ICI and I was still in contact with my former colleagues.
One told me, that he had met a Senior ICI Engineer, who had been involved with the enquiry into the disaster.
The plant had been a copy of a Dutch plant, that had been built to metric units, which were converted to Imperial to build the Flixborough plant.
As ICI had used metric units since the mid-1950s, there was considerable alarm in the mind of the Senior Engineer, that when the hasty modification was made, someone got mixed up.
Would the Flixborough disaster have happened, if the plant had been built as a copy of the Dutch plant using metric units?
Can A Green Revolution Really Save Britain’s Crisis-Stricken Aerospace Industry?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Telegraph.
This is the sub-title.
The Prime Minister has set a challenging target of green flights within a generation, but is it a sustainable plan?
I have read the whole article, which is mainly about Velocys and their project at Immingham to create aviation biofuel from household rubbish.
They say the main problem is scaling up the process to get enough jet fuel. When I was working at ICI in the early 1970s, modelling chemical processes, scale-up always loomed-large as a problem.
Nothing changes!
I think we’ll get to our carbon-neutral objective, for aviation, but it will be a mixture of things.
- Aviation biofuel.
- All-electric airports.
- Efficient aerodynamics and engines.
- Electric short-haul aircraft.
- Rail substitution for short flights.
Traditional aerospace must reform itself or die!
As to Velocys, they must solve their scaleup problem, so that all suitable household and industrial rubbish ends up doing something more useful, than beinmg incinerated or nuried in landfill.
An Untidy Railway
I took these pictures as I returned from Eridge.
You see it all over the railways and not just in the UK; general untidiness!
When I joined ICI in 1968, I went on a thorough and excellent induction course.
One very experienced engineer, gave a Health and Safety Lecture and one thing he said, was that a neat and tidy chemical plant was less likely to have silly accidents.
Some years later, I went to the United States to see some of Metier’s clients, of whom some were nuclear power stations. This must have been just after the Three Mile Island accident, which is described like this in Wikipedia.
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial meltdown of reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI-2) in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg, and subsequent radiation leak that occurred on March 28, 1979. It is the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.
Artemis was involved in maintenance at the nuclear stations I visited. I can remember at AEP Donald C Cook nuclear station being shown a database of work to do and many of the actions were referred to as TMIs and checking them had been mandated by the US regulatory authorities.
I should say, the site on the shores of Lake Michigan impressed me, but another I visited later didn’t. I won’t name it, as it is now closed and it was the most untidy industrial plant of any type I have visited.
As we left, I gave my opinion to our support engineer and he told me they had a very large number of TMIs to process. I wasn’t surprised!
So why are railways generally so untidy?
Joint Venture With Linde AG And £38M Strategic Investment
The title of this post, is the same as that as this Press Release from ITM Power.
This is the first paragraph.
ITM Power plc is pleased to announce its intention to raise at least £52.0 million (before expenses) through (i) a strategic investment of £38.0 million at 40 pence per share by Linde UK Holdings No. 2 Limited, a member of the Linde AG group (Linde) (the Share Subscription); and (ii) a conditional placing of £14.0 million at 40 pence per share (the Firm Placed Shares) with certain existing and new institutional investors (the Firm Placing). The Group has also entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Linde (the Joint Venture) which will focus on delivering green hydrogen to large scale industrial projects, principally those with an installed electrolyser capacity of 10 Megawatts (“MW”) and above.
There is all the usual financial stuff and these sentences.
The net proceeds of the fundraising will be used principally to enhance the manufacturing capabilities of the Group, particularly for the development and production of large scale 5MW electrolysers, to facilitate product standardisation and manufacturing cost reduction.
The Joint Venture will focus on delivering green hydrogen to large scale industrial projects (generally being opportunities with installed electrolyser capacities of 10 Megawatts and above)
As ITM Power are constructing the largest electrolyser factory in the world, at Bessemer park in Sheffield, it appears to me that ITM Power are going for the larger scale hydrogen market.
Recently, I wrote these three posts.
- Funding Award to Supply An 8MW Electrolyser
- Surplus Electricity From Wind Farms To Make Hydrogen For Cars And Buses
- H2OzBus Project: Deploying Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Fleets For Public Transport Across Australia
News stories generated about the company or the production of hydrogen seem to require large electrolysers in excess of 5 MW.
It looks like ITM Power are setting themselves up to tap this market substantially.
How Much Hydrogen Would A 5 MW Electrolyser Create In A Day?
I found the key to the answer to this question on this page of the Clean Energy Partnership web site.
To produce hydrogen by electrolysis directly at the filling station, the CEP currently requires about 55 kWh/kg H2 of electricity at an assumed rate of efficiency of > 60 percent.
To produce 1 kg of hydrogen, nine times the amount of water is necessary, i.e. nine litres.
I will use that figure in the calculation.
- A 5MW electrolyser will consume 120 MWh in twenty-four hours.
- This amount of electricity will produce 2,182 Kg or 2.182 tonnes of hydrogen.
- It will also consume 19.64 tonnes of water.
In Surplus Electricity From Wind Farms To Make Hydrogen For Cars And Buses, I described how Jo Bamford and his company; Ryze Hydrogen, have applied for planning permission to build the UK’s largest electrolyser at Herne Bay in Kent.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen a day.
- The hydrogen will be sent by road to London to power buses.
So could the electrolyser be a 25 MW unit built of five 5 MW modular electrolysers?
Linde and their UK subsidiary; BOC, must have a lot of knowledge in transporting tonnes of hydrogen by road. I can remember seeing BOC’s trucks behind ICI’s Castner-Kellner works in the 1970s, where they collected hydrogen to see to other companies.
Is There A Link Between Historic Coal Mining And COVID-19?
In Air Pollution May Be ‘Key Contributor’ To Covid-19 Deaths – Study, I wrote about the link between current pollution and COVID-19, that had been shown by European researchers.
Today, in The Times, there is an article, which is entitled Pressure To Free London From Lockdown As Cases Fall.
It talks about the areas, that are recording the most new cases of confirmed COVID-19 in the last fortnight.
The article says this.
Only one area south of Birmingham is in the 20 local authorities with the most coronavirus cases in the past two weeks, while those with fewest are clustered in the south, an analysis of official figures by The Times shows.
That local authority in the top twenty is Ashford.
i have looked at all the data in The Times and this table shows the number of cases in the last fortnight in decreasing order.
- Birmingham – 266
- County Durham – 209
- Manchester – 184
- Bradford – 168
- Sandwell – 164
- Wigan – 156
- Shropshire – 155
- Cheshire West and Chester – 151
- Sheffield – 144
- Cheshire East – 135
- Leeds – 138
- East Riding Of Yorkshire 129
- Barnsley – 126
- Tameside – 124
- Doncaster – 121
- Ashford – 118
- Stoke – 117
- Wirral – 107
- Trafford – 102
- Folkestone and Hythe – 99
- Leicester – 99
- Bolton – 94
- North Somerset – 94
- Oldham – 93
- Stockton-on-Tees – 93
- Oxford – 90
Note.
- Why is Cheshire in the top half of the list?
- There seem to be a lot of coal mining areas on the list.
- Ashford and Folkestone and Hythe are even close to the former Kent coalfield.
I’d love to see Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish data added to this list!
Is Coal A Factor?
Given the large number of coal-mining areas featuring in my list, I very much feel that there should be a serious analysis to see if working in the mines or growing up in a coal-mining area, is a factor related to the chances of catching COVID-19.
I should say, that my only personal memories of British coal mines working, was to see the mines in Kent, as we drove to see by uncle in Broadstairs. They were filthy places.
The Cheshire Paradox
Cheshire doesn’t have any coal mining, but it does have a lot of chemical works and oil refineries along the Mersey, many of which use Cheshire’s most valuable natural resource – salt.
When I worked at ICI, I was told that there was enough salt underneath the green fields of Cheshire to last several thousand years, at the current rate of extraction.
There was also the ICI office joke about pensions.
You would get a good pension from ICI, as the pension scheme was well-funded and also because so many pensioners, after a lifetime of working amongst all the smells and dusts of a chemical works, which gave the lungs a good clear out, didn’t live long in the fresh air of normal life and caught every cold, cough and flu doing the rounds.
The three Cheshire areas have these numbers of total confirmed cases per 100,000 residents.
- Cheshire East – 304
- Cheshire West and Chester – 312
- Wirral – 378
These compare closely to nearby Liverpool with 319.
But look at these figures of a similar county around London, that from personal experience is similar to Cheshire.
- East Hertfordshire – 176
- North Hertfordshire – 171
So have all the chemicals in the historic Cheshire air, softened up the population for COVID-19?
I used the word historic, as pollution in the seventies in Cheshire/Merseyside was much higher, than it is today.
Surplus Electricity From Wind Farms To Make Hydrogen For Cars And Buses
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Surplus power from wind farms will be used to run a network of giant electrolysers to make hydrogen for vehicles, under plans drawn up by a green energy company.
The following are points from the article.
- The electrolysers will be installed by Ryze Hydrogen.
- Ryze have submitted plans to build the UK’s largest electrolyser at Herne Bay in Kent.
- It will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen a day.
- The hydrogen will be sent by road to London to power buses.
- More electrolysers could be built in Aberdeen, Northern Ireland, Runcorn, South Wales and other places.
- It looks like the electrolysers will be built by ITM Power in the world’s largest electrolyser factory in Rotherham.
- Keele University is replacing 20% of the natural gas in its gas network with hydrogen to heat buildings. I wrote about this in HyDeploy.
Note.
- The owner of Ryze is Jo Bamford, who also owns Wrightbus. I wrote about his plans in JCB Heir And Wrightbus Owner Jo Bamford: ‘We Can Sell Our Hydrogen Bus Around The World’.
- Jo Bamford also has a plan for Ireland, which I wrote about in Wrightbus Boss Eyes All-Island Green Transport Plan. He could build the Northern Ireland electrolyser conveniently for the border.
- Jo Bamford is the son of Lord Bamford; the chairman of JCB.
- According to Wikipedia, JCB made a £4.9m strategic investment in ITM Power in 2015. The early bird catches the worm?
- ITM Power recently had an order for an 8MW electrolyser, which I wrote about in Funding Award to Supply An 8MW Electrolyser.
It all seems to fit together like a large zero-carbon jigsaw.
I do have some questions.
How Much Electricity Is Needed To Produce Ten Tonnes Of Hydrogen?
I found an answer to this question on this page of the Clean Energy Partnership web site.
To produce hydrogen by electrolysis directly at the filling station, the CEP currently requires about 55 kWh/kg H2 of electricity at an assumed rate of efficiency of > 60 percent.
To produce 1 kg of hydrogen, nine times the amount of water is necessary, i.e. nine litres.
Scaling up means that to produce ten tonnes of hydrogen will require 550 MWh and ninety tonnes of water. For comparison an Olympic swimming pool holds 2,500 tonnes of water, based on the fact that a cubic metre of water weighs a tonne and contains a thousand litres.
Is It Safe To Move Hydrogen In Trucks Around The UK?
I used to work as an instrument engineer in ICI’s hydrogen factory at Runcorn around 1970.
That plant electrolysed brine using the Castner-Kellner process to produce sodium hydroxide, chlorine and hydrogen. The first two products were used as feedstock to make various chemical products and the hydrogen was taken away by Air Products and BOC, in specially-designed trucks.
It can be said, that we have been moving hydrogen safely on the roads of the UK for at least fifty years and probably longer.
As an aside, I think, ICI found the hydrogen a bit of a problem, as in those days it didn’t have that many uses.
Are Ryze Building A Network Of Electrolysers To Serve The Whole Of The UK?
The five electrolysers named in The Times article, are in Ireland, North-West England, Scotland, South-East England and South Wales.
- All electrolysers would be sited near to large offshore wind farms, except for Northern Ireland, where the wind power is onshore.
- All areas of the British Isles would be close to an electrolyser for hydrogen delivery, except the South West and the North East of England and the Midlands.
- The Midlands is to be served by a planned ITM Power electrolyser at Tyldesley.
- The North East of England has a hydrogen supply from INEOS on Teesside.
- The South West of England could probably support another electrolyser. But there is not the same amount of nearby wind power.
Ryze with a little help from their friends, could make sure that every bus depot in the UK has a reliable source of green hydrogen.
The Electrolyser At Herne Bay
This Google Map shows the Herne Bay and the surrounding area on the North Kent coast.
What is not shown is all the wind farms to the North of the town in the Thames Estuary. These include.
- Gunfleet Sands – 172 MW
- Kentish Flats – 139 MW
- London Array – 630 MW
- Thanet – 300 MW
That is a total of 1241 MW, so working for twenty-four hours with a capacity factor of 30% would create almost 9 GWh of electricity.
- A small fraction of this 9 GWh of renewable electricity would provide enough to run the electrolyser at full power.
- The smallest wind farm; Kentish Flats will produce 139 x 24 x 0.3 = 1000 MWh on an average day.
- Just 23 MWh of electricity per hour is needed to create the ten tonnes of hydrogen.
Where are these wind farms connected to the National Grid?
- If just one connection is close to Herne Bay, then co-location must be desirable.
- If there is no connection, only 23 MW would be needed from the National Grid.
Reading the Wikipedia entry for Herne Bay, it appears to be an improving town.
- It has both a fast rail and a High Speed One connection to and from London.
- There is a dual-carriageway road connection to the motorway network.
- The town would probably welcome the jobs, that the development would create.
Herne Bay seems to be a good place to build the first electrolyser.
The Electrolyser At Aberdeen
I don’t know the Aberdeen area well, although the oil industry in the area has been good for my financial well-being.
There must be a good reason for building an electrolyser in the area.
- Aberdeen have experience of hydrogen buses.
- There are some large wind farms; both onshore and offshore close by.
- Is there a convenient site, that once had a coal-fired power station, but still has good electrical connections?
According to the Wikipedia entry for Wind Power In Scotland, the country had 8423 MW of installed wind power in December 2018 and has the aim of using only renewable energy by 2020.
Searching the Internet, I found the Peterhead power station.
The power station is gas-fired.
The power station has changed technology over the years.
There was a plan to fuel the power station with hydrogen produced from methane, where the carbon dioxide would have been captured and stored in the Miller field.
This Google Map shows the power station, to the South of Peterhead.
Note, that the power station is close to the A90 road, which forms the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, that goes past Aberdeen to the South of Scotland.
Could this power station be the site of the Aberdeen electrolyser?
- It looks to have good road connections.
- It obviously has good electrical connections.
- Peterhead would probably welcome the employment.
As you can see from the map, the power station is owned by SSE plc, who generate about a third of their energy from renewables.
And then there is Hywind Scotland, which is the world’s first commercial floating wind farm.
- This is a 30 MW wind farm.
- It comprises five 6MW floating wind turbines.
- It is situated eighteen miles off Peterhead.
- In the first two years of operation it had a capacity factor of 50 %, according to Wikipedia.
On an average day, Hywind Scotland will generate 360 MWh. This is 65 % of the 550 MWh of energy needed to produce ten tonnes of hydrogen.
Are there undisclosed plans to create a fleet of floating wind turbines, out to sea from Peterhead, which would be ideal for both Scotland’s electricity and hydrogen supplies?
It should also be noted, that in the UK and I suspect other developed countries, if someone needs a large amount of electricity for a commercial purpose, like an aluminium smelter or a steelworks, electricity companies, whether state or privately-owned, have always been keen to oblige.
I suspect that everything could be coming together in Peterhead.
The Electrolyser In Northern Ireland
The Wrightbus factory, owned by Jo Bamford builds its buses at Ballymena.
- Ballymena is 28 miles North of Belfast.
- Dublin is 130 miles to the South.
I can see the mother of all arguments happening, as to whether the electrolyser is North or South of the border.
If you look at the Wikipedia entry entitled Electricity Sector In Ireland, this is the opening paragraph.
The electricity sectors of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are integrated and supply 2.5 million customers from a combination of coal, peat, natural gas, wind and hydropower.
The grid runs as a synchronous electrical grid and in terms of interconnections has undersea DC-only connection to the UK National Grid, alongside plans in the advanced stage for a higher power, planned Celtic Interconnector to France.
It looks like Jo Bamford will only have to deal with one entity, no matter, which side of the border, the electrolyser is situated.
This would surely make it easier for his All-Ireland Green transport plan, which I wrote about in Wrightbus Boss Eyes All-Island Green Transport Plan.
My feeling is that he’ll get less grief, if the electrolyser was just on the North side of the border with a good road connection to the South. As there is a dual carriage-way road, all the way between Belfast and Dublin, this could probably be arranged.
This Google Map shows where the main dual-carriageway crosses the border.
Note.
- The border is shown as a white line to the North of the Centrepoint Business Park.
- The railway line between Dublin and Belfast can be seen to the West of the main cross-border road.
I certainly think, that a solution can be found to fuel all those Irish hydrogen buses, that Jo Bamford has proposed.
The Electrolyser At Runcorn
If Runcorn already has a good source of hydrogen at the former ICI factory, that is now owned by INEOS, why build an electrolyser at Runcorn?
There are several reasons.
- Runcorn is involved in the hydrogen plans for North-West England, that I wrote about in A Hydrogen Mobility Roadmap For North-West England.
- Runcorn can connect into the North West’s proposed hydrogen network.
- Runcorn is close to the zero-carbon wind energy of Liverpool Bay.
- INEOS can pool their zero-carbon hydrogen into that produced by Ryze.
- Will INEOS with all their hydrogen experience in the area, host the electrolyser?
- Runcorn is convenient for the large cities of Liverpool and Manchester.
- Runcorn has good access to the motorway network for the Midland of England and North Wales.
- There must be the possibility of building a rail terminal to deliver hydrogen.
Runcorn would also connect the interests of Jim Ratcliffe and the Bamfords.
The Electrolyser In South Wales
South Wales has an extensive public transport network.
- The South Wales Main Line runs between the Severn Tunnel and Swansea and the West via Newport and Cardiff.
- The Cardiff Valley Lines are being transformed into a modern South Wales Metro, which will make use of electric and battery technology.
- There are a lot of buses, running around in South Wales.
The buses and possibly some of the trains must be candidates for hydrogen power.
Transport for Wales Rail Services have ordered 77 Class 197 diesel trains from CAF, who have a factory at Newport.
Given CAF’s record on innovation and the Welsh Government’s stance on the environment, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that these trains could be converted to zero-carbon trains. I’m sure Ryze would be pleased to provide green hydrogen for Welsh trains.
I think there are two possible sites for a large electrolyser in South Wales.
The first is the site of the former Aberthaw power stations, which are shown in this Google Map.
Note.
- Aberthaw power stations were South of Gileston.
- The complex stopped generating power at the end of March this year.
- The site has rail access.
- Road access would need to be improved.
- The power station must have had a good very connection to the National Grid.
- The site is near to Cardiff Airport, who might want to go zero-carbon for all their ground vehicles.
The second possible site, is on the site of the former Llanwern steel works, which is shown in this Google Map.
Note.
- It is a very large site, which probably has a very good connection to the National Grid.
- The CAF rolling stock factory is marked by a red arrow.
- CAF could start building and/or selling hydrogen-powered trains in the UK, at some date in the future.
- The site has rail and road access.
- The site is fifteen miles to the East of Cardiff.
- The site is thirty miles to the West of Bristol.
If it was my decision, I’d put the electrolyser on the Llanwern site.
Will The Electrolysers Need A Battery To Cover On Days Without Wind?
I can envisage a system, where several trailer-tankers are filled at once in a continuous process. Once filled, they would be disconnected and replaced by an empty one. It would act like a automatic bottling plant for beer, but with much bigger bottles.
The filled trailer-tankers would be energy stores, whilst they awaited being taken to the customers.
What Infrastructure Will Be Needed At Bus Depots?
The infrastructure is minimal and would be a tank and the means of filling the buses.
I also wonder, if trucks with a proven design of hydrogen trailer-tanker were to be used, these could be filled up at the electrolyser and the trailer-tankers would then be taken to the bus depots, where they would be plugged into the hydrogen delivery system for the buses.
- Each delivery would be a drop-off and connection of a full trailer-tanker of hydrogen and a return with the empty trailer-tanker to the electrolyser.
- The trailer-tankers could be fitted with a hydrogen vehicle-filling connection, so that bus operators could trial a small fleet of hydrogen buses or other vehicles, without putting in any infrastructure, other than safe parking for the trailer-tankers. But then most bus depots have lots of secure parking for large buses.
- This would surely be faster and more efficient, as the delivery driver wouldn’t have to wait, whilst the hydrogen is transferred.
- Deliveries could be arranged during the night.
I would also use a fleet of quiet, emission-free zero-carbon hydrogen-powered trucks. Do what I say and do what I do!
Why Not Generate The Hydrogen At The Depot?
At Pau, ITM Power have installed a hydrogen generator for the hydrogen-powered buses.
So why not do this all over the UK?
- A large bus depot could need a very large amount of electricity in a congested part of a city, where the electricity supply may be dodgy.
- It could also be safer, as venting the oxygen produced as a by-product of electrolysis, in an uncontrolled environment can be dangerous. But generated in a large electrolyser, it could be captured and used for another purpose or safely vented to the atmosphere. This section in Wikipedia, gives a brief outline of the applications of oxygen.
- I truck-based delivery system, is ideal for trials of hydrogen-powered buses, taxis, delivery vans, trucks and local authority vehicles, as no infrastructure is needed.
I suspect that, it might be more affordable and convenient to use centralised production of the hydrogen.
Conclusion
Jo Bamford has developed a well-thought out plan.
The Anonymous Widower 