UK offshore gas hub weighs second turquoise hydrogen tech provider

EnergyPathways is exploring a second methane pyrolysis technology for its 20,000 tonne-per-year turquoise hydrogen platform planned for the East Irish Sea.

The firm, which is already Hazer Group’s technology for the facility, will also evaluate Finland’s Hycamite as an equipment supplier for the plant, which it claims could be competitive with UK blue hydrogen prices.

The facility, the Marram Energy Storage Hub (MESH), is intended to store up to 50 billion cubic feet of natural gas and hydrogen 18km off the Lancashire coast. It would extract and store natural gas using an electrified offshore platform, with some of the gas being used in the methane pyrolysis systems.

It is planned for initial hydrogen-producing operations by 2029-2030, and later phases could see production capacity installed for subsea storage.

Alongside hydrogen, the project is expected to generate 20,000 tonnes of high-grade graphite, which EnergyPathways believes could bring in predicted revenues of up to £120m ($160m).

The ultimate selection is set to hinge partially on the company’s planned grant application for the UK Government’s Critical Minerals Accelerator programme. This could see fiscal support for its graphite production, a material identified as important to UK growth.

Graphite is used in the manufacture of products including electric vehicle batteries and fuel cells and, according to EnergyPathways, “underpins the UK’s largest high-growth export sectors.”

Proponents praise methane pyrolysis for offering a potentially low-emission hydrogen production pathway with a valuable byproduct in solid carbon.

However, some analysts warn that the pathway could worsen upstream greenhouse gas emissions in some cases, using more natural gas than steam methane reforming and risking methane leaks if fossil gas is the feedstock.