Aker Solutions wins contract to design E-fuel plant

AKER SOLUTIONS has won a contract to design a plant in Norway that will use renewable power, water, and captured carbon to produce fuels and chemicals feedstocks.

The front-end engineering and design contract has been awarded by Nordic Blue Crude. Work starts immediately and is planned be completed in Q3 this year. Nordic Blue Crude expects to sanction the start of detailed engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) within the second half of 2021. The resulting “E-fuel” plant will be built in Herøya in Porsgrunn, 150 km southwest of Oslo, and will have a production capacity of 10m L/y.

The plant’s electrolyser will use renewable power to split water vapour into hydrogen and oxygen. Using reverse water gas shift, the hydrogen will be reacted with carbon dioxide captured from local industrial point sources, to produce syngas which will then be fed to a Fischer-Tropsch unit. Products will include jet fuel, diesel, wax and naphtha.

Kenneth Simonsen, Interim Executive Vice President and head of Aker Solutions' renewables business said: "Aker Solutions has been working with NBC on this concept for more than two years. The FEED contract brings the project a big step forward towards realisation. The project also supports our strategy to grow the company’s business related to renewables and low-carbon oil and gas projects.”

The contractor says it plans to maintain a strong market position in providing services to the oil and gas industry but has set a target to generate one-third of its revenue from renewable energy projects and low-carbon solutions by 2025, and two-thirds by 2030. In its annual statement for 2020, Aker Solutions said a quarter of its new orders were related to energy transition projects including for CCS facilities.