MOL Group has teamed up with Plug Power to build one of Europe’s largest-capacity green hydrogen production facilities at MOL’s Danube Refinery in Százhalombatta, Hungary, at a cost of €22 million ($23.2 million). 

 

Utilising a 10-megawatt (MW) electrolysis unit from Plug Power, a leading provider of turnkey hydrogen solutions for the global green hydrogen economy, MOL’s facility will be able to produce approximately 1,600 tonnes of clean, carbon-neutral, green hydrogen annually in 2023, removing up to 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide by displacing the currently used natural gas-based production process.

 

As this process represents one-sixth of the carbon dioxide emissions of MOL Group, an international, integrated oil, gas, petrochemicals, and consumer retail company, this investment supports MOL’s carbon neutrality goals and will contribute to energy independence for the region. 

 

Using green hydrogen in Danube refinery

Once operational, MOL will use the green hydrogen in its Danube Refinery during fuel production of its own hydrogen system. It will be incorporated into the molecules of MOL fuels, lowering the carbon outputs from the production technology and the final product.

 

“We are convinced that hydrogen is not only one of the most important energy carriers of the already ongoing energy transition, but it will be an essential factor in the new, carbon-neutral energy system as well. This new technology allows the introduction of green hydrogen production in Hungary, Százhalombatta, which makes MOL Group one of the most important players in the sustainable energy economy in the region,” said Gabriel Szabó, Executive Vice President of Downstream at MOL Group.

 

“Green hydrogen addresses two critical issues facing humanity: climate change and energy independence,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug. “And our opportunities seem limitless to support the trend to pull green hydrogen into more traditional industrial hydrogen markets throughout the world. We are pleased to provide our state-of-the-art electrolyser technology to MOL Group’s Danube Refinery and enable MOL Group to take a big step forward in addressing these issues for the region.”

 

No greenhouse gas emissions

The production of green hydrogen does not generate any greenhouse gas emissions. The Plug equipment uses electricity from a renewable source to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas by a process called electrolysis. 

 

This process does not produce any by-products that harm the environment. By producing one ton of hydrogen, eight-to-nine tonnes of pure oxygen is also produced by the equipment, saving nearly 10,000 tonnes of natural gas consumption in the process. 

 

Plug’s electrolysers, with nearly 50 years of operational experience in applications demanding high reliability, are modular, scalable hydrogen generators optimised for clean hydrogen production. 

 

Simple green hydrogen adoption

The company behind the world's first and most comprehensive Green Hydrogen Ecosystem, Plug is making green hydrogen adoption simple for companies ready to improve both efficiency and sustainability of their operations. 

 

Plug’s independent green hydrogen production network is targeting 70 TPD by the end of 2022 and remains on track to have 500 TPD of green hydrogen generation network in North America by 2025 and 1,000 TPD on a global basis by 2028. 

 

Green hydrogen production is an integral part of MOL’s updated Shape Tomorrow strategy, which focuses on sustainability and is completely harmonised with The European Green Deal. 

 

Within the framework of its strategy, the company will make a total investment of €1 billion into the low carbon circular economy through 2025. MOL will reduce the carbon footprint of its operations by 30% by 2030 and will spend 50% of investment expenditures on sustainable projects. MOL aims to implement a carbon-neutral operation by 2050.-- TradeArabia News Service