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 AnonW |
Business, Energy, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel, World | Barrow-in-Furness, Carlton Power, Decarbonisation, Hydrogen-Powered Trucks, Kimberly-Clark, Northfleet, Plastic, River Thames, Steam, Wet Wipes, Zero-Carbon Steam |
2 Comments
I went to Cleethorpes from Doncaster by train yesterday. You pass the Keadby site, where there are two large gas–fired power stations of 734 MW and 710 MW. A third one ; Keadby 3 of 910 MW complete with carbon capture and storage should join them by 2027.
So that will be nearly 2.5 GW of reliable electricity.
I find it interesting that one of our first gas-fired power stations with carbon capture will be in Lincolnshire, which is famous for growing plants of all shapes, types and sizes. So will we be seeing lots of greenhouses on the flat lands I saw yesterday, growing plants in an atmosphere they like, so that we can generate our carbon dioxide and eat it.
The next power station at Keadby is called the Keadby Next Generation power station, which is intended to be complete by 2030. It is a bit of a puzzle in that it will run on up to 1800 MW of hydrogen and only produce up to 910 MW of electricity.
Note.
- The hydrogen will come from SSE’s hydrogen store at Aldbrough and Centrica’s store at Rough.
- Surely, the amount of hydrogen and electricity should balance.
When I worked in ICI’s hydrogen plant in the 1960s, ICI had no use for the hydrogen, so they sent it to their power station, blended it with coal gas and used it to make steam for other processes.
Could Keadby Next Generation power station be providing zero-carbon steam for the chemical and other processes on Humberside?
Adding the 910 MW of electricity to Keadby’s gas-fired total of 2.5 GW gives 3.4 GW of electricity from Keadby to back up the wind farms.
3.4 GW at Keadby is what I call backup!
It also should be noted, that one of the reasons for building the Mersey Tidal Barrage is to provide backup for all the wind farms in Liverpool Bay.
Conclusion
I believe that SSE could be supplying zero-carbon steam in addition to electricity from the Keadby Hydrogen power station.
March 26, 2025
Posted by AnonW |
Energy, Energy Storage, Food, Hydrogen | Aldbrough Gas Storage, Carbon Capture And Storage, Centrica, Cleethorpes Station, Doncaster Station, Gas Storage, Gas-Fired Power Stations, Hydrogen-Fired Power Station, ICI, Keadby Hydrogen Power Station, Keadby Power Stations, Liverpool Bay, Mersey Tidal Power, Rough Gas Storage, SSE, Steam, Zero-Carbon Steam |
3 Comments
The Anonymous Widower 