Hitachi Zosen Inova AG (HZI) and the Aarau-Lenzburg Regional Waste Disposal Association (GEKAL) in Switzerland have announced a joint venture project to produce hydrogen at a waste-to-energy plant in Buchs, Canton of Aargau.
Green hydrogen, a high-density energy carrier with a low carbon footprint, is part of the energy transition to renewable energies. Cheap-cost green hydrogen availability is critical for easing the energy transition, and it will be done by supplying surplus electricity to local customers at a low cost, hence reducing costly logistics expenditures.
Because energy-from-waste (EfW) plants are inherently recycling facilities, utilizing the power generated to manufacture hydrogen is an additional step toward increasing their contribution to the circular economy.
Furthermore, hydrogen production can be baseload or fluctuating to best match the availability of other renewable power generation, creating more hydrogen when wind and solar energies are high and vice versa.
Chemical storage is more effective and scalable than battery storage because hydrogen may be stored without losses.
Project for a joint venture
HZI has developed a joint venture project with the Aarau-Lenzburg Regional Waste Disposal Association (Gemeindeverband für Kehrichtbeseitigung Region Aarau-Lenzburg or GEKAL) for this aim, in which HZI will build its first commercial small-scale Waste-to-Hydrogen (WtH2) facility.
In the first several years, HZI will be the owner and operator of the facility at the GEKAL site, as well as handling all planning and building activities.
HZI will use power from the Buchs Energy from Waste (EfW) facility to electrolyze hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will be compressed and kept in special tanks, while the oxygen will be discharged into the environment.
HZI will employ an alkaline electrolysis technique to create 550 Nm3/h of green hydrogen at 350 bar, fulfilling the SAE 2719 and ISO 14687 hydrogen fuel quality criteria.
Following the delivery of a carbon dioxide (CO2) liquefaction plant for a pioneering Swiss project in Nesselnbach in September 2021, this is HZI’s second unique project in the Canton of Aargau in a short period of time.
Offtake of green hydrogen in the area
Messer Schweiz AG, a Lenzburg-based industrial gas provider, will be the primary purchaser of hydrogen. The hydrogen generated will be utilized as a technical gas for industry and for early mobility applications, such as green fuel for public transportation and private automobiles in the local area.
A filling station will be included in the PtH2 facility. Its annual production is expected to be over 200 tonnes of hydrogen, which is comparable to around 10-15 GWh of electricity.
The new PtH2 plant will provide a valuable and, above all, local source of green hydrogen, improving the thermal recycling facility’s circular dimension.
The new plant gives an outstanding opportunity for us as a hydrogen buyer to significantly boost the percentage of Green Hydrogen in our product line. Locally produced green hydrogen will account for over a third of Messer Schweiz’s current local trade volume once the Power to Hydrogen facility is up and operating, according to Dr Hans Michael Kellner, CEO of Messer Schweiz.
The hydrogen facility of the EfW plant in Buchs is scheduled to be installed in June 2022, with the first hydrogen generated in early 2023. In the spring of 2023, full operations will begin a few months later.
Offers grid balancing services
According to GEKAL Chairman Christoph Wasser, the development of the Green Hydrogen factory will provide several advantages, both environmental and economic.
We will be able to be considerably more versatile thanks to hydrogen generation. Instead of putting power into the grid when demand is low, Christoph Wasser explained, “we may use it to make hydrogen that can be stored.”
The Swissgrid secondary control service framework, a revolutionary idea for guiding demand and surplus inside the Swiss power grid, will be connected with the new Green Hydrogen production facility.
When the main producer, such as the EfW plant in Buchs, falls offline, secondary producers, such as the EfW plant in Buchs, are brought online to keep the grid stable.
If too much renewable energy is produced in comparison to the projected amount, so-called negative compensation may be necessary. The hydrogen factory will draw up to 2 MW from the grid in this case, which means renewable energy providers like wind farms will not need to be brought offline soon, if at all.
The hydrogen plant will greatly enhance the usage of the energy produced by the Buchs EfW plant. Balancing the output of fossil fuels will help to reduce the plant’s CO2 balance. Further appealing technological possibilities, such as mixing hydrogen with CO2 extracted from EfW flue gases to fuel a methanation production cycle, are possible moving ahead, according to Fabio Dinale, VP of Business Development at HZI.
