bp selects BASF’s carbon capture technology for blue hydrogen project in Teesside, United Kingdom

bp and BASF, one of the world's leading chemical companies, have signed a licence agreement for the use of BASF’s gas treating technology, OASE® white, to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) generated during hydrogen production at bp’s proposed blue hydrogen facility in Teesside, H2Teesside. BASF have been supporting H2Teesside since Autumn 2023 and their engineering delivery package is already well advanced.

H2Teesside aims to be one of the UK’s largest blue hydrogen production facilities, targeting 1.2GW of hydrogen production by 2030, equating to over 10% of the UK Government’s hydrogen target of 10GW by the same year. Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas, with the carbon dioxide also generated captured for storage.

BASF’s OASE®1 white, a proven technology in many ammonia, hydrogen and carbon monoxide plants across the world, will bring improved energy efficiency to the blue hydrogen production process while achieving a CO2 capture rate of up to 99.99%2. The continuous OASE gas treatment process adds an amine-based solvent agent to the gas stream where it absorbs the CO2. After this, both components (CO2 and Amine) are separated from the hydrogen rich gas stream before being separated once more by fractionation. The CO2 is then sent for storage and the OASE solvent agent is re-used in the process.

Carbon capture at H2Teesside could capture and send for storage of approximately two million tonnes of CO₂ per year via the bp-led Northern Endurance partnership, the CO2 transportation and storage company that will deliver the onshore and offshore infrastructure needed to capture carbon from a range of emitters across Teesside and the Humber.

Will Harrison-Cripps, H2Teesside Asset Development Lead at bp, said:“This agreement marks another critical milestone for H2Teesside as the project builds momentum and continues to move towards commercial operations, planned for 2028. Along with its sister project HyGreen Teesside, H2Teesside could play a critical role in decarbonising industry and heavy transport on Teesside, helping to transform the region into a leading hydrogen hub and kickstart the UK’s low carbon hydrogen economy.”

Glenn Langguth, Head of Global Commercial Management for BASF’s Gas Treatment business, added:“We are proud to work with bp on this important project with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions. Our OASE® white technology is a proven and established solution for this kind of carbon capture technology. Our portfolio of OASE gas treating technologies is characterized by high energy efficiency and is perfectly suited to help our customers achieve their sustainability targets.”

In March 2023, H2Teeside was selected as one of three Track-1 Capture Projects to proceed to negotiations for UK Government funding support from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ), for the East Coast Cluster as part of Phase 2 of the cluster sequencing process for carbon capture and storage.

In October 2023, bp also announced it had signed a licensing and engineering agreement for Johnson Matthey’s LCH blue hydrogen technology, which will enable the hydrogen production element of the process.

1 OASE® is a registered trademark of BASF. 

2 Performance test runs carried out by BASF in similar units have achieved CO2 capture rates of up to 99.99%.