Germany's Uniper changes course on Wilhelmshaven, mulls hydrogen hub

German energy major Uniper has shelved plans for a floating LNG import terminal at the Port of Wilhelmshaven, and is now conducting a feasibility study for the import of green ammonia as part of its fledgling hydrogen strategy, the company said in a statement on April 14.

After a market test in October 2020 failed to elicit sufficient interest in long-term capacity at a proposed LNG regasification terminal at the location, Uniper now plans to develop a "national hub for hydrogen," with a combination of electrolysis and imported ammonia cracking that could meet 10% of Germany's hydrogen demand in 2030.

"Under the name 'Green Wilhelmshaven,' Uniper plans to establish a German national hub for hydrogen in Wilhelmshaven," the statement said. "An import terminal for green ammonia is planned."

The commissioning of the new terminal is expected in the second half of this decade, contingent on import demand and export opportunities, it said, while also stating its intention to connect the facility to local industry and the planned hydrogen network.

"This approach will help to solve one of the key problems of energy transition: security of supply," the statement said. "The NH3 splitting plant for producing green hydrogen would be the first scaled plant of its kind."

Uniper also declared that it had submitted its plans to German Federal Ministry of Economics as an Important Project of Common European Interest, which itself is intended to promote project integrating throughout the supply chain.

The plans include a 410 MW electrolysis plant, which could potentially produce 295,000 mt of hydrogen in the year 2030, equivalent to 14 TWh of energy. The company is also examining the feasibility of building a direct reduction plant with upstream electrolysis on the site of an existing power plant in Wilhelmshaven. The plant recently succeeded in securing a compensation payment for closure through German energy regulator BNetA.

The company added that it aimed to produce 2 million mt/year of green crude iron using hydrogen generated from wind power, working with steelmaker Salzgitter and Rhenus Logistics to this end. The trio signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2020.

"It is essential that Germany and Europe remain industrial powerhouses," Uniper COO David Bryson said. "If we want to achieve this and still hit our ambitious climate protection targets, we need hydrogen to power sectors such as steel production, the chemicals industry or in freight, shipping and air transport."

"In other words: We need 'green molecules' as well as 'green electrons'," he continued. "We need to get hydrogen out of the laboratory and start using it in large-scale applications and marketable industrial solutions — we should make it into a commodity and exploit its wide variety of uses."

"We will be heavily dependent on imports if we want to use hydrogen to help us achieve our climate goals."

Dr Axel Wietfield, CEO of Uniper Hydrogen, said that: "One sector in which hydrogen can play a crucial role in reducing CO2 emissions is steel production. Currently, each metric ton of crude steel produced releases approximately one metric ton of CO2 emissions. Hydrogen is the only realistic option for decarbonizing this industry."

Ammonia

As a power-generating fuel, ammonia burns cleanly given its chemical composition of one nitrogen molecule and three hydrogen, emitting the former and water vapor when combusted. The Earth's atmosphere consists of 70% nitrogen.

Green ammonia is produced using the Haber-Bosch process, which takes hydrogen produced from electrolysis and nitrogen extracted from the atmosphere and synthesizes them chemically at high pressure and temperature, with the use of an iron-based catalyst. Once delivered, ammonia can be catalytically decomposed back into its constituent elements.

Ammonia is already used as a medium of transport for hydrogen consumers, and can be shipped at much higher temperatures compared to LNG, albeit still at minus 30 degrees Celsius. Both are viewed as generally more viable logistically than shipping pure liquid hydrogen, which condenses at 33 C above absolute zero.

European hydrogen production was estimated by the European Commission at 10 million mt in 2018, although it is not known what proportion of this was derived from ammonia imports.

In March, Uniper announced it was investigating the use of green methanol as an alternative shipping fuel and carrier for hydrogen, derived from direct air capture of carbon dioxide for carbon neutrality.

"Providing and using green methanol as a fuel for the maritime industry is a logical step in the implementation of our hydrogen strategy within the wider framework of our decarbonization efforts," Bryson said at the time.