"Refuelling the Humber Refinery" will pave the way to deep decarbonisation of Phillips 66's industrial fired heaters, while demonstrating the importance of hydrogen for industrial fuel switching as part of the UK's Net Zero future.

The Humber Region is strategically important as the UK's largest industrial cluster by emissions (12.4MTCO2/yr). Decarbonisation of this region is crucial for achieving the UK's Net Zero 2050 target while retaining the UK's industrial asset base. Within the region, the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery is a world-class asset, providing jobs to more than a thousand people and contributing £100M per year to the regional economy.

This Feasibility Study will explore fuel switching in the refinery's industrial fired heaters, displacing refinery fuel gas with both renewable and low-carbon hydrogen. This project supports Phillips 66's long-term "Refinery of the Future" vision which involves deep decarbonisation of the refinery and development of a UK electric vehicle battery supply chain.

Phillips 66's involvement in Phase 1 of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund identified a group of industrial fired heaters that cannot be practically decarbonised with post-combustion carbon capture, due to their dispersed locations and variable capacities. Instead, fuel switching to hydrogen (renewable and low-carbon) is needed to decarbonise these heaters with the potential to reduce onsite emissions by up to 400kTCO2/yr.

Phillips 66 will explore the following:

* Modelling of the heat and gas dispersion within the heaters, both before and after fuel switching
* Burner testing at the vendor facilities to prove hydrogen firing capability and determine the impact on flame pattern and emissions
* Provide preliminary design and cost estimates for the hydrogen supply pipework and associated equipment conversion needed, plus business case evaluation
* Demonstrate a large-hydrogen demand to the regional hydrogen supply projects, Humber Zero and Gigastack, that are expected to create the Immingham Hydrogen Hub. This will increase the certainty of their business cases and deployment roadmaps throughout the 2020s
* Expand the evidence base for refuelling fired heaters with a high fraction of hydrogen

These activities will prove both the commercial and technical viability of the technology.