The MULTIPLHY project – “Multi-megawatt high-temperature electrolyser to generate green hydrogen for the production of high-quality biofuels” has recently been launched at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam. The project involves Neste, provider of renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel, and as key technology partners the French research organisation CEA, plant builder Paul Wurth, the energy utility ENGIE and the cleantech company Sunfire. The consortium will install, integrate and operate the world’s first high-temperature electrolyser (HTE) system in multi-megawatt-scale. The project consortium led by CEA, as project coordinator, is part of the EU Horizon 2020 FCH2-JU program with an overall funding of € 6.9 million.
MULTIPLHY marks the first demonstration of an HTE in an industrial refining process with a nominal power input of 2.6 MW and a hydrogen production capacity of 60 kg/h reaching an electrical efficiency of up to 85% _{AC to LHV H2}.
“This project shows the great progress being made in bringing our green hydrogen production technologies to the next level and paving the readiness for a further scale up to 100 MW” said Sunfire Managing Director Nils Aldag.
“Neste is a global forerunner in renewable fuels with the ambition to become a global leader in renewable and circular solutions. Demonstrating green hydrogen production at our Rotterdam refinery enables us to drive the development of new sustainable technologies aiming at decreasing the carbon footprint of our customers” said Lars Peter Lindfors, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Neste.
“ENGIE is delighted to be part of MULTIPLHY to decarbonise Neste’s bio refinery. This is the world’s first multi-megawatt high-temperature electrolysis project to produce hydrogen. We will contribute our expertise and increase our knowledge to extend ENGIE’s renewable hydrogen-based solutions, and enable our customers’ zero-carbon journey,” said Michèle Azalbert, Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE’s Hydrogen Business Unit.
For Georges Rassel, CEO of Paul Wurth, “our involvement in the project is an important part of our strategy for the transformation of the industry towards Zero Carbon Emissions, especially as H₂ is considered THE reducing agent of the future in the world of ironmaking.”
By the end of 2024, the electrolyser is expected to have been in operation for 16,000 h or more, producing a total of around 960 t of green hydrogen while avoiding approx. 8,000 t of GHG emissions. The project supports the most promising Carbon Direct Avoidance (CDA) approach by substituting “grey” hydrogen currently generated via steam-methane reforming (SMR) by certified green hydrogen.
_{(Source: Sunfire GmbH)}