A UK refinery shows progress in renewables projects
Humber Refinery is located on the east coast of England in North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, approximately 180 miles north of London. Humber’s facilities include crude distilling, naphtha reforming, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrodesulfurization, thermal cracking and delayed coking units. The refinery has two coking units with associated calcining plants. Humber is the only coking refinery in the United Kingdom, and a producer of high-quality specialty graphite and anode-grade petroleum cokes. The refinery also produces a high percentage of transportation fuels. The majority of the light oils produced by the refinery are distributed to customers in the United Kingdom by pipeline, railcar and truck, while the other refined petroleum products are exported throughout the world. [1] The crude oil it processes is supplied primarily from the North Sea and includes light-, low- and medium-sulfur and acidic crude oils. [2]
As recently published by Oil & Gas Journal magazine [3], Phillips 66 has received a main equipment for a project to increase production of renewable fuels at its 221,000-b/d refinery. The equipment , which was built in UK and delivered to the Humber site as of Nov. 18, is a 15-m tall, 80-tonne processing module that includes two reactors and nearly 600 m. of pipework. It will convert used cooking oil (UCO) to expand the refinery’s renewable diesel production capacity to 3,000 b/d from its current 1,000-b/d capacity by January 2021, Phillips 66 said. Humber refinery began production of renewable diesel in 2018 and has plans under way to increase low-carbon, renewable fuels production at the site another 2,000 b/d to 5,000 b/d by 2024.
Humber refinery also is progressing on a project that will use renewable hydrogen to produce fuels at the site. The pilot project—named Gigastack aims to harness offshore wind to generate renewable electricity that would be used to power electrolysis for production of hydrogen, a low-emission fuel capable of powering transportation and heavy industry, as well as multiple refining processes. The pilot project is a collaboration between Phillips 66 UK, Danish Ørsted AS, ITM Power PLC, and UK-based consultancy Element Energy Ltd. . As part of the project’s first phase, ITM Power designed a 5-Mw electrolyzer. Under the second phase, the goal will be to develop a 100-Mw electrolyzer system equipped to use renewable electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas, the latter of which would be fed to Humber for uses that include lowering the sulfur content of diesel fuel. The project’s second phase which is already ongoing has secured nearly $10 million in funding from the British government to cut UK carbon emissions and includes execution of front-end engineering design (FEED) study for the 100-Mw electrolyzer system as indicated by Oil & Gas Journal magazine.
Humber refinery would use the hydrogen supply in hydrotreating processes for production of both conventional and waste-based fuels, refueling of refinery heaters, and possible future expansions such as battery coke opportunities, which require hydrotreating capability. Humber refinery, which already runs at up to 40% hydrogen in fuel gas, is currently assessing requirements to run beyond that level.
[1] Phillips 66 - 2019 Annual Report
[2] https://www.phillips66.com/refining/humber-refinery
[3]<https://www.ogj.com/refining-processing/refining/construction/article/14187738/phillips-66s-humber-refinery-advances-renewables-projects?oly_enc_id=0096A6413178E9E>