Alfa Laval supplies heat exchangers to hydrogen plant

Alfa Laval has signed an agreement to deliver compact heat exchangers to the world’s largest green hydrogen plant, which is to be constructed in the Middle East.

The facility, powered by renewable energy, will be part of the city of Neom, built from scratch in the northwestern desert, with the ambition of establishing a new model for sustainable living.

When purified water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity, keeping a stable temperature in the electrolyser is crucial to maximising efficiency. Splitting water into the two gases generates excess heat, which needs to be constantly cooled off. In this project, it is done by using Alfa Laval energy-efficient plate heat exchangers.

Neom’s location and infrastructure will allow the generation of 4 GW of renewable power from solar and wind, where the green hydrogen production facility will use about half of it. It will be the largest green hydrogen plant and the first installation of a gigawatt size, producing 650 tons of hydrogen per day. This in turn will be used to produce 1.2 million tons of green ammonia annually.

Thomas Møller, President at Alfa Laval, said, “With our products and expertise, we will continue to be part of accelerating and scaling this area, which is so important in the race to net zero emission.”