AFC, Ineos sign deal for chlorine byproduct to power UK plant

Surrey, England-based fuel cell provider AFC Energy (LON:AFC) said today it signed a letter of intent with a European chemicals maker to use a byproduct of the chlorine-manufacturing process to generate energy.

The deal with Ineos ChlorVinyl, a unit of Southampton, England-based Ineos, would harness the surplus hydrogen produced in the manufacturing of chlorine. That industrially produced hydrogen would then be used to power AFC's fuel cells, which are to be installed at Ineos ChlorVinyl's Runcorn manufacturing complex in Cheshire, UK.

The companies did not announce details such as the targeted energy-generating capacity, the value of the contract, or a timeline for installation. Shares of AFC Energy were down nearly 3 percent at the close of trading on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market for small-cap companies. 

In June, AFC completed the demonstration of fuel cell system powered by industrially produced hydrogen at Akzo Nobel's facility in Bitterfeld, Germany.

AFC says the chlor-alkali industry consumes 1 percent of the world's energy. 

Ineos' Runcorn manufacturing complex has a total energy demand of about 500 megawatts. In April, Ineos said it secured the financing for a £400 million ($656 million) waste-to-energy facility that is expected to generate around 100 MW of electricity and heat for the complex.

Construction is expected to begin in the third quarter, with the plant scheduled to begin delivering heat and power by early 2013. Ineos signed a deal to use solid recovered fuel provided by Viridor Laing (Greater Manchester), which separates and processes 1.3 million metric tons (1.43 million U.S. tons) of municipal waste each year.

Earlier this year, AFC signed a deal with London-based Waste2Tricity to supply alkaline fuel cells to increase the efficiency of energy conversion at waste-to-energy plants by as much as 60 percent (see AFC, Waste2Tricity to build fuel-cell waste-to-energy plant). Waste2Tricity is AFC Energy’s exclusive licence holder for gasification projects in the UK.