Exolum starts the world’s first demonstration of transport and storage of green hydrogen in existing terminal infrastructure through carrier liquids (LOHC)

Madrid – Exolum has started the world’s first project to transport and store green hydrogen on a commercial scale in existing oil infrastructure using liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC). Led by Exolum, it is being carried out in Immingham, the UK’s largest freight port.

LOHCs are organic compounds that can absorb and release hydrogen through chemical reactions and can therefore be used as a safe means of storing and transporting hydrogen in liquid form. Exolum is one of the world’s largest liquid logistics companies with a major fuel pipeline and tank storage network in the UK. It delivers fuel to airports for around four out of every ten flights taking off from the UK each year.

Exolum sees the project enabling the utilisation of its existing infrastructure to accelerate a speedier, more flexible and more efficient growth of the hydrogen market. This approach will allow a more targeted approach to the development of hydrogen infrastructure, ensuring that storage is located in areas closer to the points of expected demand, such as ports or industrial areas.

According to Ignacio Casajús, Exolum’s Global Strategy & Growth Lead: ‘The pioneering project we have launched proposes a realistic, safe and cheap formula for distributing green hydrogen that is in line with existing demand. In this way, we avoid developing new infrastructure by using our logistics network, one of the most efficient in the world. We are convinced that this initiative will make a decisive contribution to the decarbonisation of the economy and the diversification of alternative energy sources’.

The potential of LOHCs to selectively, safely and reliably transport and store hydrogen is enormous. This project can open the door to the reuse of existing fossil fuel infrastructures.

A new transport model for hydrogen

The project has received funding from the UK government, which has provided £505,000 as part of the Hydrogen Storage and Distribution Supply Chain Collaborative R&D programme run by Innovate UK. The trial will transport 400 cubic metres of LOHC containing 20 tonnes of hydrogen through a 1.5 km long pipeline connecting Exolum’s facilities at Immingham East and Immingham West in the Humber Region. Laboratory tests will be carried out to confirm that LOHC quality is maintained in this process. The hydrogen transported is equivalent to the consumption of a hydrogen-powered passenger car travelling 2 million kilometres.

This demonstration will also include a scientific study of the potential costs and benefits of converting, transporting, storing and releasing hydrogen as LOHC, to be published in early 2025.

Strategic contribution to the UK’s energy future

Exolum estimates that its facilities in the UK will be able to distribute 4.6 TWh of hydrogen per year, 30% of the total demand forecast by the UK government for 2030. This project will contribute to the objectives of the UK government’s Clean Power Mission 2030 by replacing the current underground storage facilities with
terminals at the points of consumption of this gas.

Exolum, which began operating in the United Kingdom in 2015, is the only independent provider for the storage and distribution of fuels via pipeline and has 22 storage terminals with more than 2.4 million cubic metres of capacity. In addition to this project, the company is developing a green hydrogen production plant and refuelling station as part of the Tees Valley Hydrogen Vehicle Ecosystem project, which also includes the construction of a water electrolyser and hydrogen refuelling station at the Exolum Riverside terminal in Stockton-on-Tees. The electrolyser will produce green hydrogen using electricity from renewable sources and will supply both the planned refuelling station, with a capacity of 1.5 tonnes per day, and other customers
in the region through the ‘hub and spoke’ distribution model.

In Spain, Exolum has completed construction of the first integrated plant for the production and dispensing of green hydrogen for mobility in the Community of Madrid, which will supply heavy transport vehicles to contribute to the decarbonisation of road logistics, and is involved in other projects aimed at promoting the development of new energy vectors by taking advantage of existing infrastructures, researching renewable hydrogen storage and distribution technologies of LOHC, such as the Regenera and GreenH2Pipes consortia.