Ground-breaking ceremony for new hydrogen liquefier at Linde in Leuna
An investment in the future
The chemicals location of Leuna is developing into the European centre for hydrogen liquefaction. Three hydrogen liquefaction plants are currently in operation in Europe, one of which is located at the production location of industrial gases group Linde in Leuna. Linde is now building another cutting-edge plant at the location which is scheduled to enter operations in 2021. At the ceremony to mark the official start of the construction work on 30 October, the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, also picked up a spade.
As other guests of honour, Jens Waldeck, Managing Director of Linde Gas for the Central Europe region, welcomed Dr Dietlind Hagenau, Mayor of Leuna, and Dr Christof Günther, Managing Director of InfraLeuna GmbH. In his speech, Jens Waldeck referred to the importance of the investment for Linde and its customers: "Hydrogen is an energy source of the future. We are witnessing a strong increase in demand throughout Europe. With the new plant, we are ensuring that we can offer our customers the highest standards with which they are familiar in terms of readiness for delivery and product purity.”
The importance of the new hydrogen liquefier for Leuna was emphasised by Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff in his welcome speech: "Linde has played a major role in shaping Leuna Chemical Park for several decades, and is one of the biggest employers in the region. With the strong expansion of the location and the construction of another plant for the production of liquid hydrogen, Linde is making a firm commitment to the Leuna location. I am very pleased that Leuna is developing into a European centre for gas liquefaction as part of this investment"
Dr Christof Günther, Managing Director of InfraLeuna GmbH, emphasised the long and positive relations between Linde and InfraLeuna, which owns and operates the infrastructure facilities at the Leuna location. "We have had a close cooperation with Linde for many years, and one which goes far beyond the usual customer-supplier relationship. InfraLeuna, for example, also supplies other locations of Linde in Germany with natural gas. The construction of the new hydrogen liquefaction plant is proof of the special importance of the Leuna site in the globally-operating Linde Group and its attractiveness for forward-looking, demanding new investments in high-tech production plants"
Higher capacities – fewer journeys
With the new plant, which will be the most modern of its kind in Europe, Linde is to double its liquefaction capacity at the location. Instead of the previous five tonnes, the company will soon be able to produce up to ten tonnes of liquid hydrogen every day. Both plants are currently being supplied with the gaseous raw product from the neighbouring hydrogen production plants with a pipeline.
In the future, it will be possible for “green” hydrogen from the planned laboratory in Leuna to be processed and used in order to supply hydrogen filling stations here as well.
At the new plant, the hydrogen will be liquefied at a temperature of -253 °C and subsequently loaded up at specialist filling stations for transport by truck. Hydrogen has a significantly higher energy content per volume unit in liquid form than it does when in a compressed gaseous condition. The number of journeys required to supply the customers will therefore be reduced significantly. Despite this, many of the customers aren’t situated a long way from Leuna: one of the biggest customers is the electronics industry in Saxony, where the high-purity, liquefied hydrogen is indispensable as a process gas in the manufacturing of semiconductors.
Source: www.infraleuna.de/en