Technical Details

The CQ Hydrogen Hub projects include:

• Common user hydrogen gas pipeline project

  As part of the CQ-H2 project, Stanwell is working with domestic and international partners to develop the Common User Hydrogen Gas Pipeline Project (also referred to as the Hydrogen Transport Facility or HTF).

  The HTF will carry hydrogen gas from the Hydrogen Production Facility (HPF) to various offtake facilities. This common user hydrogen pipeline will enable interconnection of multiple hydrogen suppliers to multiple industrial users and potentially future hydrogen storage facilities. Additionally, this will enable the interconnection to supply local domestic hydrogen needs in Gladstone.

  The pipeline will be 22km in length, with the Targinnie Valley/Forest Road being the preferred route through the proposed common corridor. The pipeline for H2 transportation will be co-located with portions of the surplus industrial water pipeline, in the Targinnie Valley section.

  The HTF will traverse land owned by Economic Development Queensland (EDQ), the Office of the Coordinator General (OCG), The Gladstone Port Corporation (GPC), Gladstone Regional Council (GRC), and private landowners. Once the approvals process is completed, negotiations for leasing and tenure for construction and operations on those lands will be finalised.

• Surplus industrial water pipeline project

  The CQ-H2 Hydrogen Production Facility (HPF) will utilise raw water supplied by the Gladstone Area Water Board (GAWB) to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The remaining water, classified as high-quality industrial water, will be transported away from the facility via the Surplus Industrial Water Pipeline (SIWP) for use by other community industrial users. Should there be excess Surplus Industrial Water (SIW) beyond local needs, it will be safely discharged or treated.

  The Project involves the construction of a pipeline network designed to transport Surplus Industrial Water from the HPF to:

  1. nearby major domestic industrial users,

  2. the outfall/discharge point at Gladstone Port, and

  3. Gladstone Regional Council Wastewater Treatment Plant.

  The SIWP will be constructed of plastic pipe and will follow the common user hydrogen pipeline right of way (ROW) for approximately 9 km, at which point the hydrogen pipeline continues north up Targinnie Road with a parallel leg of the SIWP for a potential marine discharge from the HLF. The SIWP will also divert east for potential industrial user offtakes. The SIWP will continue to an endpoint at the Gladstone Regional Council Wastewater Treatment Plant.

  The Hydrogen Transport Pipeline (or Hydrogen Transport Facility, collectively referred to as the HTF) and SIWP will span across land owned by Economic Development Queensland (EDQ), the Office of the Coordinator General (OCG), The Gladstone Port Corporation (GPC), the Gladstone Regional Council (GRC), and private landowners. Once the approvals process is complete, negotiations for leasing and tenure for construction and operations on these lands will be finalised.

• 2.5MW hydrogen electrolyser plant

  Sumitomo and Rio Tinto are working on a joint project to develop a 2.5MW electrolyser, associated refinery infrastructure and modifications to produce hydrogen as a fuel for process heat application at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery.

  The two companies share a goal of working towards decarbonisation of alumina production, with Rio Tinto recently signing a statement of cooperation with the QLD Government to spearhead the industry transition towards increased use of renewables.

  The project will create approximately 55 FTEs during the construction phase, and up to 10 local FTEs during the early phase of decarbonisation.

  Delivering the minimum of 125 tonnes per annum of hydrogen, the project will demonstrate the use of hydrogen in the decarbonisation of the alumina refining process, drive domestic hydrogen uptake for industrial uses (including industrial heat replacement) and provide decarbonisation knowledge to industry.

  Excess hydrogen will be available to support the hydrogen ecosystem in Gladstone and more broadly in the Central Queensland (CQ) region.

  Sumitomo is the project entity owned by its parent, Sumitomo Corporation. This entity will engage contractors directly to construct and operate the 2.5MW PEM electrolyser and its associated ancillary plant facilities at Rio’s Yarwun alumina refinery. The electrolyser plant will be comprised of the electrolyser process container, the electrolyser power container, cooling system, water treatment plant, E-house, nitrogen generator, operator building, warehouse and other ancillary facilities and equipment.

  The electrolyser plant will be connected to the utility supply systems of Rio’s Yarwun alumina refinery and the power and water required for its construction and operation will be supplied from Rio. The operation of the electrolyser will be managed by Sumitomo and the produced hydrogen will then be delivered to a delivery point where Rio will receive the hydrogen for temporary storage and the subsequent use for their hydrogen calcination trial (see the next project).

  At a high level, the project will commence construction in the second half of 2024, conclude tie-ins and commissioning is planned in the first half of 2025, to allow full scale production and hydrogen injection test work from mid-2025 to mid-2027.

• Yarwun hydrogen calcination burner project

  This project is managed by Rio Tinto Yarwun and includes the storage and injection of hydrogen into Yarwun Alumina Refinery’s K1 Calciner burner system which currently is run on natural gas.

  Project Infrastructure of the 2.5MW electrolyser (see previous project) will be sufficient to supply approximately 4t of hydrogen each fortnight for one 2-hour operating window for the Calciner using 100% hydrogen. The two-hour operating window is required to transition from natural gas operation to hydrogen operation, then operate the calciner at steady state to produce Alumina with 100% hydrogen fuel, and finally to transition from hydrogen operation back to natural gas.

  This is the minimum operating window required to de-risk full scale operation and prove hydrogen Calcination suitability for continuous Alumina production.

  This project will include the installation of full-scale hydrogen burners and steam recycle loop in Yarwun’s K1 Calciner, currently capable of operating at 2300 t/day on natural gas and an estimated 1840 t/day (at approx. 80% capacity) on hydrogen with steam recirculation. The difference between operating capacity between hydrogen and natural gas operation is due to replacing air with less dense steam used to transport Alumina within the Calciner.

  Once installed, full scale operation can be confirmed, with only upgrades to the Induced Draft Fan required to achieve 2300 t/day operating rates on 100% hydrogen.

• Underground hydrogen storage project

  Ardent Underground is conducting a feasibility study into the application of large-scale hydrogen storage in engineered underground shafts to support the needs of the CQ Hydrogen Hub. The key objective is to determine the techno commercial parameters of a suitable storage system to sustain the operations of the Stanwell CQ-H2 project including support for the multiuser pipeline (see project above).

  The feasibility study is limited to the technical and commercial aspects of the hydrogen storage system only with respect to the application within the CQ-H2 at this stage and includes the design of a prototype Ardent Underground Hydrogen Storage system. The prototype will be of sufficient scale to demonstrate and validate the key technical aspects which contribute to the value proposition that the large-scale storage provides and is likely to be hosted at Stanwell’s Future Energy Innovation and Training Hub (FEITH).

• Central Queensland community hub project

  The Queensland Government has committed to the development of the Central Queensland Hydrogen Community Hub and Information Centre (the Centre) in Central Queensland.

  The Centre will support regional industry development and broader community understanding and acceptance of renewable hydrogen production and use in their communities. This inclues facilitation of training and education to support young people to help develop a hydrogen-ready workforce of the future.

  As part of this commitment, the Queensland Government has partnered with Central Queensland University (CQ University) through the formation of the Community Hub Project Consortium to design and establish a community information centre. The Centre will be operated by CQ University in partnership with the Queensland Government and will be located on the CQ University Marina campus. This project is not a technical delivery project but focussed on supporting social acceptance and confidence in the Central Queensland hydrogen ecosystem.

  The Community Hub will provide valuable information and education to visitors and the broader community on the hydrogen and renewable energy industry.

  The vision for the Community Hub is that it will:

  Deliver a user experience that enhances community awareness of hydrogen and confidence in the industry;

  Be a visual mechanism for both the community and interested parties to interact and engage with information on hydrogen and hydrogen projects both locally and throughout Queensland more broadly;

  Encourage community engagement activities for projects and promote industry-centric tourism in Gladstone; and

  Provide a collaborative space for meeting, presentations and other active engagements, events and activations.

  The project has now commenced with a contract established between CQ University and Queensland Government to guide activities.