Plansee to use CO2-free hydrogen in Reutte
April 5, 2023
Plansee has signed an agreement with Linde Gas for the long term supply of CO2-free hydrogen that will initially cover half of all the hydrogen needed by Plansee and Ceratizit at the group’s production plant in Reutte, Austria.
Plansee requires large quantities of hydrogen for its production lines and, under the agreement, the new plant used to generate hydrogen from water and electricity will be operated by Linde. The hydrogen electrolyzer will be installed in an existing building on the Plansee premises in Breitenwang. It will have an output of four megawatts and can generate up to 800 m3 of hydrogen per hour at a purity of 99.999%. All the electricity needed to power the electrolyzer will be obtained from renewable sources (green electricity), which in turn ensures the hydrogen generated from this process is also green.
“Producing hydrogen from natural gas is currently responsible for 50% of all CO2 emissions at our Reutte production plant. These emissions can be halved by 2025 thanks to the new hydrogen electrolyzer,” stated Ulrich Lausecker, Managing Director of Plansee High Performance Materials. Plansee is aiming to establish an exclusively CO2-free hydrogen supply for the factory by 2030.
“We are proud that this is one of the few industrial electrolyzer projects in Europe and therefore a major innovation for both parties as well as the Austrian economy as a whole. Linde and Plansee are demonstrating with this project that such solutions can already be realized today through expert engagement and a professional view of the long term,” added Andreas X Müller, Head of Cluster Austria / Hungary at Linde.
Other significant measures that have been adopted to reduce Plansee’s carbon footprint are reported to include electricity from 100% renewable sources for the entire production site, further increasing the rate of tungsten recycling, as well as boosting material efficiency in the factory.
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