The Anonymous Widower

£125m Hydrogen Supply Deal To Replace Gas Usage

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

Tissue maker Kimberly-Clark has signed a £125m contract with two hydrogen facilities to reduce the amount natural gas used in its production line

These five paragraphs give more details.

The Andrex and Kleenex producer signed a long-term deal receive hydrogen from the upcoming Carlton Power facility in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and the HYRO plant in Northfleet, Kent, which are expected to be operational in 2027.

The facilities have already secured funding and planning permission and will be built near existing Kimberly-Clark plants.

The company said that, as a result of the deal, from 2027 it expected to see a 50% reduction to its 2024 consumption of natural gas across its UK production lines.

The new facilities will produce and store hydrogen for the exclusive use of Kimberly-Clark.

It would replace fossil-fuel natural gas used for steam generation in the manufacture of toilet and facial tissues, the company said.

I would expect that converting an industrial steam-generator from natural gas to hydrogen operation could be a reasonably straightforward task.

I have these thoughts.

Will Kimberly-Clark Advertise Their Future Products As Carbon-Free?

I suspect they could, if they looked at where everything they used came from.

Will Carbon-Free Tissue Products Sell Better?

This will be the acid test. And of course the sums must add up.

Will Kimberly-Clark Make Their Tissue Products Plastic Free?

There is an article in The Times today, which is entitled Work Starts To Remove ‘Wet Wipe Island’ From Thames, which says this.

The congealed mass of wet wipes has formed on the Surrey side of the river near Hammersmith Bridge and was described on Sunday night as an “embarrassment to the capital”.

Plastic-free products would go a long way to solve the problem of ‘Wet Wipe Island’

Surely, a double change to carbon- and plastic-free will be better than two single changes.

Will Kimberly-Clark Use Hydrogen-Powered Trucks To Deliver Finished Products?

Availability of hydrogen is often cited for not using hydrogen-powered trucks.

But that won’t apply at Barrow-in-Furness or Northfleet.

 

August 11, 2025 Posted by | Business, Energy, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel, World | , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Glencore & Strategic Partner Britishvolt Strengthen Relationship And Agree To Build Battery Recycling Ecosystem In The UK

The title of this post is the same as that of this press release from Glencore.

These are the first two paragraphs.

Glencore is proud to have entered an industry-leading battery recycling joint venture with strategic partner and battery pioneer Britishvolt, the UK’s foremost investor in battery cell technologies and R&D.

The joint venture will develop a world-leading ecosystem for battery recycling in the UK. This ecosystem will be anchored at a new recycling plant located at the Britannia Refined Metals operation (BRM-located in Northfleet), a Glencore company. BRM will continue with its current production and trading operations.

These appear to be some of Glencore’s objectives for the project.

  • They intend to recycle a minimum of 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries per year, including but not limited to valuable battery manufacturing scrap, portable electronics batteries and full EV packs.
  •  They intend to recycle Britishvolt’s scrap.
  • They intend to be up and running by mid-2023.
  • They intend to be 100 % powered by renewable energy in the longer term.

It all seems admirable.

These are my thoughts.

Britannia Refined Metals

This Google Map shows the Britannia Refined Metals site at Northfleet.

Note.

  1. Britannia Refined Metals is indicated by the red arrow.
  2. The Port of Tilbury is on the other side of the Thames.

This second Google Map shows the site in more detail.

Note.

  1. It is not a very large site.
  2. There doesn’t appear to be much space for expansion.
  3. They appear to have a wharf on the river.

I’ve found this company video from the 1980s on the Internet.

They do seem to have developed a sophisticated process for recycling lead-acid batteries.

Renewable Energy

There are these offshore wind farms in the Thames Estuary.

Two of these could be extended.

I am sure that there could be more space in the Thames Estuary for more wind power.

Recycling Batteries

I have found this article on the BBC, which is entitled As The World looks To Electrify Vehicles And Store Renewable Power, One Giant Challenge Looms: What Will Happen To All The Old Lithium Batteries?.

This is the third paragraph.

While this may sound like the ideal path to sustainable power and road travel, there’s one big problem. Currently, lithium (Li) ion batteries are those typically used in EVs and the megabatteries used to store energy from renewables, and Li batteries are hard to recycle.

The article talks about possible solutions.

  • Don’t treat the batteries as disposable.
  • Increasing the number of batteries recycled from the measly five percent.
  • Automate the recycling process, which currently is labour intensive.
  • Give the cathode, anode and other parts a second life in new batteries, by refurbishment.
  • Batteries that degrade on command.

But the idea, I like is described in this paragraph from the article.

The next step for scientists pushing direct recycling of Li batteries forward is working with battery manufacturers and recycling plants to streamline the process from build to breakdown.

In context with the tie-up between Glencore and Britishvolt, you can imagine engineers from both companies, getting together to improve the design of the battery, so that manufacturing and recycling of batteries are two mutually efficient and complimentary processes.

I can also see some very sophisticated logistics systems being developed to return batteries to an approved recycler, who may be in another country.

But then we are dealing with something that could have a substantial value.

Deals Between Battery Manufacturers And Recyclers

I can see more deals like this between battery manufacturers and recyclers.

  • It could reduce the cost of batteries.
  • It could impress governments seeking to reduce the about of batteries going into landfill.
  • It would reduce the amount of new metals to be mined.

It may even help, in the protection of intellectual property rights, that are concerned with battery manufacture and recycling.

A Second Similar Glencore Deal

There is also a second deal about battery recycling mentioned in a press release on the Glencore web site, which is entitled Glencore & Managem Set Up Partnership For Moroccan Production Of Cobalt From Recycled Battery Materials.

  • The press release was issued only a few days before the one announcing the deal with Britishvolt.
  • It is for 12,000 tonnes of recycling.
  • The press release mentions renewable power.

I do wonder, if Glencore or one of their companies has developed a new process.

February 6, 2022 Posted by | Energy Storage, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments