FUREC

Producing hydrogen from household waste

The project

FUREC – which stands for Fuse Reuse Recycle – is one of RWE’s hydrogen projects in Limburg (Netherlands). The idea is that the company uses non-recyclable municipal residual waste to produce green and circular hydrogen (H2) and carbon. To do that, RWE designs an installation for processing residual waste and turning it into green circular hydrogen. Due to that it will be possible to use the hydrogen and carbon at chemical plants on the Chemelot industrial park, thus reducing their consumption of natural gas by 280 million cubic metres yearly and also generating less CO2 emissions.

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Why this project?

FUREC aims to produce affordable domestic green circular hydrogen locally for the industry in order to strengthen their competitiveness and contribute to their sustainability. Using hydrogen instead of fossil fuels can reduce the dependency of other countries with regards to producing oil and gas. It will also reduce CO2 emissions which fits in perfectly with the targets of the EU, the Netherlands, the province of Limburg and Brightlands Chemelot Campus science park. Their shared mission is to stimulate the circular economy in the region.

RWE’s contribution

RWE Generation has designed the FUREC installation on the Chemelot industrial park. The video explains the project.

What benefits will the project bring?

Thanks to FUREC, there will be 400,000 tonnes less CO2 emissions per annum. Here’s the thing: by supplying green hydrogen to the plants on Chemelot, the ‘grey’ hydrogen produced from natural gas will be reduced. By doing that, the natural gas consumption on Chemelot will be reduced by more than 280 million cubic metres per year. That is comparable to the gas consumption of 200,000 households.

At the same time, FUREC will contribute to the reuse of municipal waste and thus avoid the unnecessary combustion or landfill of molecules.

An infographic illustrating the FUREC project, showcasing waste transformation into hydrogen for sustainable industry.

This makes FUREC a fully-fledged alternative to waste incineration and landfill and an addition to existing recycling initiatives. FUREC itself has no waste flows that will then need to be incinerated. And the municipal waste will come from the region so that there will be no trips to waste incinerators. An additional benefit!

Development and planning

RWE is working on the development of FUREC and has started on the licensing procedures. The licenses are needed to make a final investment decision. At the same time it is looking at follow-up projects as FUREC in Limburg is seen as a blueprint for a rollout at other locations in the Netherlands and Europe in the future.

Hydrogen customers

The hydrogen that RWE is going to produce in Limburg can be used by companies on the nearby Chemelot industrial park. There are currently talks taking place with chemical company OCI N.V. that has a production site here regarding this. Using the hydrogen will enable the company to make its production chain more sustainable and contribute to circular production. RWE is also looking at the option of transporting hydrogen to industrial companies in Rotterdam and the Ruhr area and preparing the grid connections to the hydrogen and CO2 infrastructure that this will require. The Delta-Rhine corridor plays an important role in this.

  • The waste will come from the region, as it does now. Then it will be dried in Zevenellen and separated into metals (iron, aluminium and copper), stony materials (ceramics and stone) and a residual fraction. The residual fraction will be crushed and compressed into pellets that will then be transported to Chemelot by ship. The metals and stony material will be sold directly on the market as raw materials.

    On arrival at the port of Stein, the pellets will be transshipped and transported to the plant at the Chemelot site where they will be completely converted, with hydrogen as the main product.

  • By replacing natural gas with waste, FUREC will reduce Chemelot’s annual gas consumption by more than 280 million cubic metres per annum. That is comparable with the annual gas consumption of approximately 200,000 households and will result in an annual CO2 reduction of 400,000 tonnes.

  • The whole production process of FUREC – with hydrogen as the main product – is based on recycled waste flows instead of the use of fossil fuel, making it circular. And because more than half of the waste will consist of biogenic material, approximately 50% of the hydrogen produced will be ‘green’.

  • From every ton of waste, FUREC will produce 60 kilos of hydrogen, replace 340 cubic metres of natural gas and save on 413 kilos of CO2 emissions. Also, there will be no more trucks full of Limburg’s waste travelling to incinerators around the country. Limburg will become circular.

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