MOL Group opens green-hydrogen plant in Hungary

MOL Group has inaugurated a 10-megawatt capacity green hydrogen plant in Százhalombatta, which is the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. The €22-million investment will reduce the Danube Refinery’s carbon dioxide emissions by 25 000 tons. MOL will be able to produce 1,600 tons of clean, carbon-neutral green hydrogen per year. The 10-megawatt electrolysis unit was provided by Plug Power. The new technology will gradually replace the natural gas-based production process, which currently accounts for one sixth of the MOL Group’s total carbon dioxide emissions. The plant will start producing in the second half of 2024: MOL will use the green hydrogen primarily in its own network for fuel production.

Plug Power’s electrolysis equipment uses electricity from renewable sources to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen. This means that no polluting by-products are generated and, in fact, the plant produces 8-9 tons of pure oxygen per tonne of hydrogen. The US company has offered MOL an innovative and reliable technology: the hydrogen generators, optimized for the production of pure hydrogen, have almost 50 years of operational experience.