Fortum taps Uhde to design, build hydrogen plant near Provoo refinery

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Apr. 15 -- Finnish firm Fortum Oil & Gas Oy has commissioned ThyssenKrupp Group's engineering arm Uhde GMBH to design and supply equipment for a 140 MMscfd hydrogen production plant at Porvoo, about 30 km east of Helsinki and adjacent to Fortum's 200,000 b/d refinery.

The 25 million euro contract includes the license and engineering for the Uhde steam reformer, supply of equipment, and supervision of the construction and commissioning work.

The facility's output will be used to convert residual oil to "sulfur-free" transportation fuels, Uhde said. In addition to natural gas as a feed for the steam reformer, liquid petroleum gas and other refinery gases also can be used in various ratios to the refinery's needs, Uhde noted.

The plant is due to come on stream in late autumn 2006.