The largest green hydrogen plant will be built in the Middle East, and Alfa Laval has received a contract to provide small heat exchangers for it. The facility, which will be run entirely on renewable energy, will be a component of Neom, a brand-new metropolis in the northwest desert that aims to create a new standard for sustainable living.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) claims that hydrogen is one of the best possibilities for storing energy from renewable sources for days, weeks, or even months at a time, and it also allows for long-distance travel. However, producing green hydrogen is not without its difficulties. Maintaining a constant temperature in the electrolyser is essential to maximising efficiency when purified water is divided into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity.
Water splitting produces too much heat, which needs to be constantly cooled off. In this project, Alfa Laval energy-efficient plate heat exchangers are utilised.
Many of the major manufacturers of electrolysers depend on Alfa Laval as a top provider of heat exchangers.
The green hydrogen production facility will employ nearly half of the 4 GW of renewable energy that can be generated thanks to Neom’s location and infrastructure. With a daily production rate of 650 tonnes of hydrogen, it will be the largest green hydrogen plant and the first installation of a gigawatt size. From there, 1.2 million tonnes of green ammonia will be produced annually.
According to Thomas Miller, President of Alfa Laval’s Energy Division, “Our business in hydrogen has evolved well over the last years, and we are now offering effective heat exchangers to the various steps of the process; for production, delivery, and usage. We will continue to contribute to accelerating and scaling this field, which is crucial in the race to net zero emission, using our products and expertise.”
