Energy provider INEOS has announced that it will convert its large-scale petrochemicals plant and oil refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, to run on hydrogen-CCS, at a cost of more than $1.4 billion, to enable it to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.
A view of INEOS Grangemouth’s oil refinery. Credit: INEOS website
Energy provider INEOS has announced that it will convert its large-scale petrochemicals plant and oil refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, to run on hydrogen, at a cost of more than €1 billion, to enable it to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.
The UK has significantly reduced emissions from power generation and aims to reach net-zero by 2050, but has struggled to reduce the carbon footprint caused by industry.
The company will initially use blue hydrogen, which is produced on-site, to store and capture some 1 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2030. According to the company, in order to achieve net-zero by 2045, the next stage will be to use green hydrogen.
Before INEOS took over the site from BP in 2005, its annual emissions were some 5 million tons of CO2, but this has now fallen to around 3 million tonnes and is expected to fall to 1.8 million tonnes by 2030. INEOS, which is a backer of hydrogen investment firm HydrogenOne Capital Growth, said it will take part in the Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Scotland, to store CO2 emissions in the North Sea.
INEOS Grangemouth has announced a planned further investment of over €1 billion towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions at its site to net-zero by 2045. The company has already committed over €500 million on projects which are approved and currently being implemented at Grangemouth. This includes investment in its New Energy Plant, which is due for completion in late 2023 and will supply energy to all site operations and the highly efficient technology will drive down emissions by at least 1,50,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
INEOS is also planning a move to the production and use of hydrogen by all businesses at the Grangemouth site accompanied by carbon capture and storage of at least 1 million tonnes per annum of CO2 by 2030. This will include capturing CO2 from existing hydrogen production and the construction of a world-scale carbon capture-enabled hydrogen production plant.
Additional contributions to driving down emissions will come from further investments in energy reduction and optimization, along with electrification of key equipment. There will also be a shift in INEOS’ polymer product portfolio to include higher levels of post-consumer recycled content in order to contribute to a growing circular economy.
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