The Humber Zero is a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) facility that is planned to be developed at the Immingham Industrial Area in the UK Humber Region.
The project is led by a consortium of Humber Refinery operator Phillips 66, and VPI Immingham, operator of the adjacent 1.2GW combined heat and power plant, and energy trader Vitol.
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Humber Zero was one of the projects to be shortlisted by the UK Government in August 2022 under the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Phase-2 Cluster Sequencing for Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) deployment.
The green project also received a financing of £12.5m from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for the front-end engineering and design phase.
The partner companies will also invest the same amount in order to develop the necessary technology to capture and safely store carbon created by the Immingham industrial cluster.
The Final Investment Decision (FID) on the project is scheduled for 2025. It may entail an investment of more than £2bn.
With an expected start-up in 2027 or 2028, the project will contribute towards the 2030 net-zero target of the UK Government.
Humber Zero will seek to capture up to 8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum by 2030.
Humber Zero Project Location
The Humber Zero CCS Project will be constructed on the south bank of the Humber River in North Lincolnshire, the UK. The site is around 180 miles north of London.
The Humber Refinery, spread over 480 acres, has a workforce of 800 employees. Its coastal location will facilitate industrial decarbonisation as the captured CO2 can be stored via pipeline under the North Sea.
Humber Zero CCS Details
Humber Zero, conceived as one of the world’s largest carbon capture projects, will be the first of a kind for a refinery. It will capture carbon dioxide emissions from Phillips 66’s Humber Refinery.
The project will have two different aspects- Post-combustion and Pre-combustion.
The Post-combustion will involve capturing greenhouse gas, usually released to the atmosphere, and then transported and stored in depleted gas field reservoirs offshore the east coast of the UK.
The Pre-combustion will initially involve CCUS-enabled hydrogen production for electricity generation for the National Grid.
The Humber Zero project will be developed in phases.
In the first phase, the project will see the deployment of CANSOLV CO2 post-combustion carbon capture technology to catch at least 95% of carbon dioxide produced as part of the Humber Refinery Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process and by two VPI Immingham Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP) gas turbines.
According to the companies, this may lead to a reduction of around 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
The CANSOLV system will capture the flue gas emitted by the chimney stack and mix it with an amine solvent to remove carbon dioxide.
The captured carbon dioxide will be compressed into a fluid state and then transported via a new 55km onshore underground pipeline to Theddlethorpe.
It will be then transported to the depleted Viking Gas Fields off the southern North Sea via an existing pipeline.
The solvent at the CHP will re-enter the carbon dioxide capturing process and the remaining flue gas will be released into the atmosphere.
The project will support the local economy by creating 2,500 jobs during construction, 200 permanent jobs and sustaining 20,000 direct and indirect jobs on the South Humber Bank.
Contractors Involved
In July 2024, VPI awarded the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract for the Humber Zero CCS Project to global professional services company Worley. Worley was also associated with the front-end engineering design (FEED) process.
Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) Environmental Segment was selected by Phillips 66 in January 2023 to design a flue gas pre-treatment process produced by the Fluid Catalytic Cracker (FCC) of Humber Refinery.
The CANSOLV CO2 post-combustion carbon capture technology will be provided by Shell Catalysts & Technologies. The company was selected in February 2022.
The technology will be retrofitted on the stacks of VPI’s Immingham Power Station. Technip Energies will support the design of the pilot plant and the capture unit. Worley will perform the integration of the CANSOLV into the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery.
In December 2021, infrastructure consulting firm AECOM was selected to work with VPI and Phillips 66 to receive permits and consents for the Humber Zero project.
With the support of planning consultants DWD, AECOM will oversee the project through the permitting stage, prepare permits and planning applications, and support the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
Wood was appointed as the Integration Project Management Contractor (IPMC) for the project in September 2021.
The contract scope includes the development and integration of the designs across the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) packages, licensor selection, interface management, safety studies, and scoping of future services.
Wood will offer support through the subsequent FEED and EPC tendering process.
The integration of CANSOLV into the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery will be conducted by Worley and Phillips 66. This early front-end engineering services contract was awarded in August 2020.
Worley and Phillips 66 will also work together to design the infrastructure to enable carbon dioxide export into the transport and storage network.
