Ineos Grangemouth plans £1B for hydrogen to curb emission

Ineos Grangemouth plans to invest £1 billion (US$ 1.4 billion) to run the Scottish site on hydrogen in a race to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045.

The plan involves a move to the production and use of hydrogen across all segments at the site accompanied by carbon capture and storage of about 1 million tonnes/annum of CO2 by 2030. It will also include capturing CO2 from existing hydrogen production and constructing a world-scale carbon capture enabled hydrogen production plant. The site will use hydrogen combined with carbon capture via the Acorn project, which will reduce this to below 2 million.

The site was emitting around 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year in 2005, which is now reduced to 3 million tonnes. The aim is to deliver more than 60% emissions savings across the site by 2030 as it continues to reduce net zero emissions by 2045 in Scotland.

The company has already committed over £ 500 million (US$ 682 million) investment on projects which are in the implementation stage at Grangemouth, Scotalnd, including investment in a new energy plant due for completion in late 2023, slashing emissions by at least 150,000 tonnes/year of CO2.

Net Zero Secretary Michael Matheson said, “Low-carbon hydrogen offers the swiftest decarbonisation route for our industrial sector and today’s commitment by Ineos makes an even stronger case for the UK Government to select the Scottish Cluster.”

Andrew Gardner, Chairman Ineso Grangemouth, said, “By 2045, we have to be net-zero equivalent, and we have to set some really ambitious but achievable targets for ourselves for 2030.”

Stuart Collings, CEO Ineos O&P UK, said, “Building the infrastructure for large scale utilisation of hydrogen creates a foundation to achieve net-zero by 2045 and enables wider use of hydrogen by Ineos and others in and around Grangemouth.”