Quorn to explore decarbonised production at Billingham plant
As part of Quorn’s plans to expand production capacity as the Billingham site, Protium and Petrofac will assess how the introduction of dual-fuel boilers (combusting both hydrogen and natural gas blend) can help the manufacturer meet its goals.
Mark C Taylor, chief engineering officer at Quorn, said the company was considering all options to drive down the carbon intensity of its process heat and electricity consumption as it aimed for zero net emissions within its operations by 2030.
“The transformational opportunity which green hydrogen potentially presents is one we are taking very seriously,” Taylor continued. “Changing well-established manufacturing processes comes with real challenges, and we are excited about working with Protium and their team of partners.
Highly collaborative
"The approach that Protium have taken with us has been highly collaborative, engineering based and commercially pragmatic. We look forward to completing this phase of the project and to fully understanding the green hydrogen opportunity.”
Located close to Quorn’s Belasis production facility, Protium and Petrofac will explore the feasibility of supplying green hydrogen via a pipeline as part of Protium’s green hydrogen project in Teesside.
Protium chief executive Chris Jackson added: “Quorn has proven through this project that it is committed to delivering its mission by focusing on its production process and how to drive long-term sustainability.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside an industry leader and food pioneer to help them implement their net zero strategy. We hope other brands in the space follow suit and support the drive to decarbonise Britain.”
Decarbonising the industry
The collaboration with Quorn followed Protium’s recent announcement that it was to work with Budweiser Brewing Group to create the first green hydrogen supply to a brewery. It hoped that this latest project could serve as a blueprint for other manufacturing companies looking to decarbonise their manufacturing processes.
Jon Carpenter, Petrofac vice president of new energy services said: “We’re looking forward to collaborating with the teams at Protium and Quorn and deploying our engineering expertise to define the potential for using green hydrogen in Quorn’s production processes.
“The project could unlock a game-changing solution for decarbonising Quorn’s manufacturing process – one that could benefit the food and drink sector as a whole.”
Meanwhile, a Coca-Cola Europacific Partners project urging third party partners to slash carbon footprints has led road haulier MJD to adopt Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil drop-in biofuel GD+ across its haulage operations.
