A demonstration plant which will produce hydrogen from glycerine is set to be built by the German company Hydromotive GmbH on a site in Leuna, Germany. It is expected that construction at the site will start later this year.

The plant, which will reprocess, pyrolyse and reform raw glycerine and will come on stream in mid-2010, will produce a hydrogen-rich gas, which will be fed into the existing Leuna II hydrogen plant for the purification and liquefaction of the hydrogen. The "green" liquefied hydrogen produced there will initially be used in German centres such as Berlin and Hamburg where hydrogen is being employed as a fuel.

As a result of its high hydrogen content, raw glycerine, which arises in the course of biodiesel manufacture, is particularly suited for the production of hydrogen. The potential benefit of biomass (per hectare) is exploited to an even greater extent by the conversion of glycerine into hydrogen for the production of fuel. Biogenically produced glycerine will not be in competition with food production and is available all year round.

"Promising opportunities for the sustainable cost-effective production of hydrogen are presented by the use of biogenic raw materials," said Dr Aldo Belloni, member of the Executive Board of Linde AG. "With this innovative patented process, we have taken yet another step towards low-emission energy supply using hydrogen."