Plastic into hydrogen plant given green light in Scotland

The plans – approved by West Dunbartonshire Council - were lodged by Peel NRE – part of Peel L&P – for the site at Rothesay Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde.

The 13,500 tonne facility will use Powerhouse Energy Plc’s Distributed Modular Generation (DMG) to create a local source of sustainable hydrogen from non-recyclable plastics otherwise destined for landfill, incineration or export overseas.

DMG technology processes non-recyclable plastic, end-of-life-tyres, and other waste streams and converts them into syngas from which chemical precursors, hydrogen, electricity and other industrial products can be derived. Powerhouse said the process can generate up to two tonnes of road-fuel quality hydrogen and over 58MWh of exportable electricity per day.

Hydrogen from the new facility will be used as fuel for HGVs, buses and cars, with plans for a linked hydrogen refuelling station on the site.

In a statement, Richard Barker, development director at Peel NRE, said: “The facility will address the dual challenge of both tackling our problem plastic whilst creating hydrogen, a sustainable fuel for future generations.