Uniper and Shell UK Limited (Shell) have awarded contracts to Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, Shell Catalysts & Technologies and Technip Energies for process design studies for the Humber H2ub project. The project aims to produce hydrogen using gas reformation and carbon capture technology at Uniper’s Killingholme power station site on the South Humber bank.
The three companies will participate in a competition to engineer the technology and plant design needed for the project to move to the front end engineering and design (FEED) phase, ahead of a final investment decision expected to be taken in the mid-2020s.

At the end of the design competition one company will become the Humber H2ub project’s preferred low-carbon hydrogen production technology provider during design, engineering, procurement and construction and into the operation of the plant.

Humber H2ub plans a 720MW low-carbon hydrogen production facility using gas reformation technology with carbon capture and storage (CCS). It could see the capture of around 1.6 million tonnes of carbon a year from the production process. The UK Government has set a target to capture and store 20-30Mt of carbon a year by 2030.

Guy Phillips, Uniper Senior Business Development Manager, Hydrogen, said: “The award of PDP contracts represents a significant step towards our plans for low-carbon hydrogen production at Killingholme”.