Natural gas the green choice

#1/2009
Text: Susanna Lidström

Increased reliability, more reliable deliveries and reduced environmental effect – that’s what the oil company Nynas was looking for when it started using natural gas instead of naphtha as the raw material for its hydrogen gas production. AGA is responsible for deliveries from the LNG terminal now being built at Nynäshamn.

2008 was a historic year for Nynas AB. The company celebrated its 80th anniversary and began construction on a new liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at Nynas refinery in Brunnsviksholmen in Nynäshamn, south of Stockholm.

“We see strategic value in having natural gas in the vicinity of our refinery,” says Rolf Allgulander, production manager of Nynas Group. “That is one of the reasons we engaged in this project from the beginning.”

Initially the LNG terminal was jointly managed by AGA, Fortum and Nynas, but in autumn 2009 AGA took over the project and is now continuing to invest in it as the single owner.

“This is a perfect example of a successful industrial cooperation,” says Allgulander. “We have found our natural roles, and AGA will look after the business. We contributed the land for the plant, and we will also purchase large volumes of LNG – we have initially contracted for 35,000 tonnes of LNG per year.”

He adds that there is an option to increase that amount to 65,000 tonnes if Nynas chooses to expand its operations in Nynäshamn.

The terminal is scheduled to be ready for operation in 2011 and will have the capacity to store 20,000 cubic metres of LNG. The first delivery is scheduled for May that year. The gas will be imported primarily from Norway and Central Europe and transported in specially built doublehulled tankers or tank trucks. The gas will be delivered via pipe from the storage terminal to Nynas.

“Logically, it is advantageous to have the raw material close to us,” says Allgulander. “It increases the reliability of supply. We also believe we can further increase the reliability of our plants by a few tenths, by using natural gas instead of naphtha in hydrogen gas production. International experience has shown that the process becomes somewhat more stable.”

Naphtha is a lighter fraction of refined oil and has been used for decades as a raw material in Nynas’ manufacture of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas is necessary for production of naphthenic special oil, which is one of Nynas’ core product areas. The manufacture is based on hydration. This means that raw oil reacts with hydrogen gas over a catalyser bed. This results in different types of special oil that are used in everything from transformers in electricity networks to environmentally friendly oil in tyres – a growing market since the EU ruled that some toxic oils in auto tyres must be replaced with harmless alternatives.

Nynas has invested a lot in the development of environmentally friendly oils and wants to set a good example by minimising the environmental effects in its own production process.

“By using natural gas instead of naphtha for the hydrogen gas plant, we will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 25,000 tonnes per year, around 15 percent, from the current levels of approximately 170,000 tonnes per year in Nynäshamn,” says Allgulander.