Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) and N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of three new nitrogen plants near Zuidbroek, Groningen. The groundbreaking on March 9 occurred after receiving project approval from The Netherland’s Economic Affairs and Climate Minister Eric Wiebes. Construction of the nitrogen plants, to be in operation by mid-2022, is an essential building block of the cabinet’s plan to end gas extraction at its Groningen Field.
Replacing the Groningen gas with higher heat content imported natural gas will require conditioning. Air Products will build three plants for Gasunie to produce the nitrogen needed to meet the specification required in commercial and consumer applications throughout the country.
“Building on the legacy of our relationship with Gasunie, we are proud to have been selected as the technology partner on a project of such strategic importance,” says Air Products’ executive vice president, Samir Serhan. “Air Products world class expertise enables us to provide Gasunie with a plant designed to meet their stringent requirements for safety, reliability, and efficiency.”
Han Fennema, Gasunie CEO, says “We are fully committed to helping accelerate the end of gas extraction in Groningen. This installation is thereby a necessary measure to ensure that, from 2022, gas from the Groningen field is no longer needed for security of supply.”
The installation of the nitrogen plants at Zuidbroek will cover approximately 12 hectares and has a capacity of 180,000 m3/h of nitrogen. This capacity is more than 10 times larger than the existing nitrogen plant at Zuidbroek.