The MultiPLHY consortium partners have successfully started up the world’s largest multi-megawatt high-temperature electrolyser at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
This is a key milestone for the pilot project, which is intended to demonstrates the viability of using renewable hydrogen as a way of reducing the use of fossil hydrogen in the refining industry. As a next step in the demonstration, a test programme will validate the technology’s performance characteristics.
The consortium partners are Neste, Sunfire, CEA, and ENGIE. The high-temperature electrolyser is provided by the German manufacturer Sunfire and the hydrogen processing unit (HPU) by SMS group. Neste is responsible for the refinery integration and together with Sunfire oversees the operation of the unit. The research and technology organisation CEA co-ordinates the project, while ENGIE is in charge of techno-economic assessment.
“The MultiPLHY project has given Neste valuable insights and experience in integrating industrial-scale renewable hydrogen production into our refinery. We remain committed to exploring different pathways to replace fossil-based hydrogen in our refining processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our own operations. This demonstration project also shows the importance of co-operation across the whole value chain,” commented Jukka Kanerva, senior VP, Renewable Refining at Neste.
The electrolyser integrated into Neste’s refinery processes is based on SOEC (solid oxide electrolysis cell) technology by Sunfire. The high-temperature electrolyser, rated at 2.6 MW, consists of twelve electrolysis modules, operating at high temperatures of 850°C to produce more than 60 kg of hydrogen per hour. Owing to the utilisation of heat, the high-temperature electrolyser requires significantly less electrical power to produce renewable hydrogen compared to some other solutions on the market.
“High-temperature electrolysis has the potential to make renewable hydrogen more affordable while increasing the energy efficiency of various industrial processes globally.” said Pierre Olivier, head of Hydrogen Lab at ENGIE.
