A hydrogen power plant pilot project led by Akzo Nobel and NedStack in Delfzijl, The Netherlands has achieved a milestone of operating 4,000 operating hours. The chlor-alkali plant produces chlorine as its main product and generates hydrogen as a byproduct.
The hydrogen is then run through a fuel cell to generate electricity to supply power for the generation of chlorine. This closed loop system is important for industrial applications in that it leads to greater efficiency, less waste and more control over the entire process.
This hydrogen pilot project has been supported by SenterNovem and to date the plant has produced over 200 MW of power. In December 2007, I had talked about how the Integrated Waste Hydrogen Utilization Project (IWHUP) in Vancouver, Canada was capturing enough “waste hydrogen” to power 20,000 cars in the production of sodium chlorate used for paper bleaching and water treatment.
When hydrogen is created through some of these production processes, it is simply thrown away by being released into the atmosphere. But, now with fuel cells getting cheaper and methods of capturing hydrogen and running it through fuel cells to create power getting easier, many manufacturing facilities are becoming interested in hydrogen helping out with their bottom lines.
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