Owner operators of the Saltend Chemicals Park, px Group, have welcomed the news that Equinor plans to build a clean hydrogen plant (Hydrogen to Humber Saltend) at the park, which they believe could be the first step in the creation of a decarbonised industrial cluster in the Humber region, UK.
Called Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend), the new plant will produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS). Initially, the plant will allow industrial customers in the Saltend Chemicals Park to switch over to hydrogen and will reduce the amount of fossil fuels going into the park’s power plant, thus cutting emissions by nearly 900 000 tpy of CO2.
In later phases, H2H Saltend will have the potential to expand services to other industrial users in the Saltend Chemicals Park and across the Humber region. Locating the new plant in the Humber Estuary, commonly known as the UK’s Energy Estuary, puts the region at the forefront of the UK Government’s ambitious plan to establish at least one decarbonised industrial cluster by 2030 and ultimately the world first net zero cluster by 2040.
H2H Saltend will be part of the Humber alliance’s application for public co-funding in the second phase of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which launched on 23 June 2020.
A short distance away from the city of Hull, UK, Saltend Chemicals Park is ideally placed to support the project. The park provides the perfect base for the thriving super-cluster of sustainable world-scale chemicals and energy operations around the Humber.
Saltend Chemicals Park is a 370-acre industrial park and Top Tier COMAH site that produces over 1 million tpy of chemicals and was acquired by px Group from BP Chemicals in 2018.
Established over 25 years ago, px Group is a fully integrated infrastructure solutions business. Along with its industrial powerhouse Saltend Chemicals Park, px provides performance-driven solutions across power, onshore and offshore gas, chemical and industrial parks, waste processing, bioenergy, biofuels, fuel storage, and combined heat and power (CHP).