Ineos converts to hydrogen, slashes emissions by 75% at UK acetyls facility

Chemical firm Ineos has completed a major £30 million investment at its Hull manufacturing site, which produces acetyls, converting the facility to run on clean-burning hydrogen instead of natural gas. The result is said to be a 75% cut in carbon emissions – the equivalent of taking around 160,000 petrol cars off the road and a huge step towards Ineos’ net zero commitment, well ahead of 2050.

The investment is part of Ineos’s wider strategy to decarbonise its operations across the UK and Europe. Ineos Acetyls is the only industrial scale manufacturer of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and ethyl acetate in Europe.

These products are essential chemicals used in everyday life, from medicines to clean water and the Saltend-based site now operates with dramatically lower emissions thanks to the switch to hydrogen.

This investment will deliver a transformational step change improvement in the site’s product carbon footprint, the company adds.

The hydrogen used at the site is produced as a co-product from existing manufacturing processes, making it a smart, efficient use of resources already on hand. It’s a model Ineos believes can be replicated across the industry.

The Hull upgrade is one of several major decarbonisation projects underway across Ineos sites, including Grangemouth and Köln, as the company pushes hard to meet – and beat – its climate targets.

Ineos Acetyls employs more than 500 people around the world. In Hull, it directly employs more than 300 people, supporting hundreds more through its supply chain.