Linde to supply hydrogen for Nynas specialty oils refinery in Germany

Technology company The Linde Group has signed a long-term contract with Nynas for the on-site supply of hydrogen at Nynas' specialty oil refinery in Hamburg, Germany, officials said on Friday.

Nynas describes itself as a global leader in naphthenic specialty oils (NSP) and the bitumen business.

To support that effort, the Linde Engineering Division will build a steam methane reformer plant at the Hamburg site with total investments accounting to around €30 million.

"Nynas and Linde already look back on a long and successful relationship, especially in Sweden," said Professor Dr. Aldo Belloni, Linde executive board member. "We are supplying Nynas with natural gas from our LNG terminal near Stockholm. We are more than happy to expand our excellent cooperation to Germany now."

The project is part of a major restructuring of the Hamburg-Harburg refinery, which over the next two years will be converted into a specialized NSP production site. By this, Nynas will increase its overall NSP production capacity by 40%. 

These specialty oils are used for many different applications, such as tires, transformers, printing inks, industrial rubber and lubricants.

The new hydrogen facility is scheduled to go on-stream in the fourth quarter of 2015 and will be operated by Linde's gases division. 

With a capacity of 400,000 m³ of hydrogen/day, it will be able to also supply other hydrogen customers in the Hamburg harbor area.