Mol's Green Hydrogen Plant Handed Over

The Hungarian oil company Mol's green hydrogen plant, established with a EUR 22 million investment, was inaugurated on Thursday in Százhalombatta, south of Budapest. In the new plant, carbon-free production can be realized on a large-scale industrial scale.

József Molnár, CEO of the Mol Group, said at the opening ceremony that the company group has reached a new milestone by being able to produce green hydrogen without producing any greenhouse gases.

"Today, our new green hydrogen plant only makes Mol's industrial operations greener, but tomorrow it will offer solutions for the entire industry and hydrogen mobility," the CEO said. He indicated that the technology will also be taken to the other two fuel production units of the group – Rijeka, Croatia and Bratislava, Slovakia – in order to make the fuel production process more sustainable. Production in the green hydrogen plant with a capacity of 10 megawatts in the Danube Refinery in Százhalombatta will start in the second half of 2024.

The plant uses the American Plug Power's electrolysis system, which enables the production of 1,600 tons of green hydrogen per year using electricity from renewable sources, reducing the refinery's annual carbon dioxide emissions by 25,000 tons.

Mol primarily uses green hydrogen in its own network, during fuel production. The new technology can gradually replace the natural gas-based production process, which currently accounts for one-sixth of the Mol Group's total carbon dioxide emissions, according to Mol's statement. The development is an important step in the implementation of the Hungarian oil company's updated SHAPE TOMORROW 2030+ corporate strategy, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.