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The collaboration represents another example of how firms involved in energy intensive processes are trying to find ways to maintain productivity whilst simultaneously reducing emissions.
In a statement last week, Swansea University said the green hydrogen unit which is housed inside a converted shipping container had been installed at Hanson UK s Regen GGBS plant in the town of Port Talbot, south Wales.
The term GGBS refers to ground granulated blast furnace slag, which can be used instead of cement when producing concrete.
The effect of cement production on the environment is considerable. According to a 2018 report from U.K. think tank Chatham House, over 4 billion metric tons of cement are produced annually. This, the policy institute said, amounted to roughly 8% of global CO2 emissions.
News Hanson installs green hydrogen generator at Port Talbot Regen ground granulated blast furnace slag plant with Swansea University Energy Safety Research Institute
Hanson installs green hydrogen generator at Port Talbot Regen ground granulated blast furnace slag plant with Swansea University Energy Safety Research Institute Written by Global Cement staff
11 February 2021
UK: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson has installed a solar and wind-powered hydrogen generation demonstration unit at its Port Talbot Regen ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) plant in Port Talbot in Neath Port Talbot. The company says that the project is part of a collaboration with Swansea University’s Energy Safety Research Institute under the European Research and Development Fund’s Reducing Industrial Carbon Emissions initiative. The hydrogen generated by the installation will replace natural gas in the GGBFS plant’s burners.
Major renewable hydrogen demo project comes online at Welsh cement plant
Building materials giant Hanson UK has installed a renewable hydrogen generation unit at one of its facilities near Swansea, Wales, to test the potential of replacing natural gas with lower-carbon alternatives.
Pictured: An aerial view of the plant in Port Talbot
The unit has been installed at the firm’s Regen ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) plant in Port Talbot. It contains an electrolyser which, powered by renewable electricity generated by onsite solar and wind arrays, splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. The separated hydrogen is then funnelled into the burner used to generate heat for the plant’s processes, mitigating the need for some of the natural gas.