A new £45m hydrogen furnace is set to be installed at Stanlow oil refinery after arriving by ship at the Port of Liverpool. Tony McDonough reports

A new furnace that can run 100% on hydrogen is set to be installed at Stanlow oil refinery by Essar Oil UK (EOUK) after it arrived at the Port of Liverpool.

EOUK, which supplies 16% of all UK road fuels from Stanlow, first announced the furnace in February. Fabricated in Thailand, the furnace will replace three existing furnaces at the Ellesmere Port site.

Furnaces are essential to an oil refinery. The process of refining crude oil means it has to be heated to around 470 degrees. Once installed it will be the first refinery-based hydrogen-powered furnace in the UK. It will initially run on gas but will switch to hydrogen by 2026 as part of the North West HyNet consortium.

Its largest single module is 26.5 metres long, by 18.5 metres tall, by 14.5 metres. The furnace will improve energy efficiency onsite. It will also reduce ongoing maintenance costs. Once its fuel source is 100% hydrogen, the furnace has the potential to reduce 242,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

Later in the summer the largest module will be transported to the Essar site at Stanlow. It will arrive via the Manchester Canal and become fully operational in 2023.

It forms a central part of Essar’s strategy at Stanlow to become the UK’s first low-carbon refinery. As well as playing a leading role in HyNet, Essar is investing in a number of energy efficiency and low-carbon energy and carbon and storage initiatives.

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Hydrogen used by the new furnace from 2026 will be produced by Vertex Hydrogen. A joint venture was launched in January between Essar and Progressive Energy, on-site at Stanlow.

Deepak Maheshwari, chief executive of EOUK, said: “We have embarked on a major investment programme to upgrade Essar’s infrastructure and future-proof our organisation.

“This furnace is one of many steps being taken to become the UK’s first low-carbon refinery. The future of decarbonised energy is being built and we are playing a key role in supporting the UK’s plans for building the low carbon economy of tomorrow.”

Claudio Veritiero, chief executive of Peel Ports, added: “We are delighted to have played a key role in this important project. As a leading and sustainable port operator we fully support the transition to hydrogen and the benefits this will bring.”