Otto Simon

OTTO SIMON

AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE UK’S ZEROCARBON TRANSITION powered by Inside Oil & Gas

want an article created? insideoilandgas.com

apply here

OTTO SIMON

I

PROFILE

AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE UK’S

C A R B O N

T R A N S I T I O N

Building on 150 years of expertise in gas processing, thermal processes and technology selection, Otto Simon Ltd has expanded into the emergent technologies sector, delivering projects for methane fermentation, bio-syngas production, and utilising hydrogen as fuel. Senior Project Manager Clive Mansfield discussed further the employee owned trust’s pioneering work in the burgeoning hydrogen sector. Feature by Andy Probert.

2

Otto Simon

Otto Simon became a member of the North West Hydrogen Alliance in 2019 and remains at the forefront of technical innovation in the developing hydrogen market.

“We specialise in providing services to the hydrogen sector, working on pioneering UK projects,” commented Senior Project Manager Clive Mansfield. This includes providing practical hands-on engineering expertise for feasibility studies, due diligence, undertaking demonstration trials, and repurposing conventional gas equipment to utilise blended or pure hydrogen as a fuel source in industrial settings.

The team has built considerable experience with hydrogen as a fuel and provides technical engineering support to several pioneering hydrogen projects.

Otto Simon is supporting Progressive Energy with the Department for Business, Enterprise, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) funded fuel switching studies. It recently delivered the HyDeploy project at Keele University, working with Progressive Energy and Cadent to trial the blending of hydrogen into the gas grid.

“We are working closely with the North West Hydrogen Alliance to develop and promote hydrogen technology in the North West of England,” Mr Mansfield revealed.

Key role in hydrogen projects

O

tto Simon Ltd has always led from the front, no matter what century it found itself. From the late 1800s, the original company, led by Dr Otto, became a world leader in coke processing and built more than 48,000 coke ovens worldwide.

Henry Simon, a Prussian born engineer who moved to the UK in 1860, revolutionised the flour milling industry by introducing the rolling flour milling plant. He turned his interests towards revolutionising the manufacture of coke and implemented innovative technology across the UK. When the companies merged in 1974, later becoming Otto Simon Ltd in 2004, a consolidated legacy of know-how and experience as a privately owned engineering consultancy and project delivery organisation began.

Becoming an employee owned trust in 2019, Otto Simon has around 100 employees in Manchester, Rotherham, Stalybridge, Forfar, and based on long-term client sites across the UK.

Enviable track record Otto Simon has developed an enviable track record in applying advanced technology in the coke/steel, renewables, waste, biomass, biofuels, energy, petrochemical, water and refinery sectors.

Building on 150 years of expertise in gas processing, thermal processes, and technology selection, it has since expanded into the emergent technologies sector, delivering projects for methane fermentation, bio-syngas production, and utilising hydrogen as fuel, among others.

Hydrogen has a crucial role to play in the UK government’s strategy to be net-zero by 2050. The North West of England produces 40 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions each year and acknowledges it is part of the global problem.

But now, the North West is at the vanguard of implementing regional solutions.

HyNet is arguably the most high-profile project of its kind in the UK. It has two principal objectives: to supply hydrogen to large industrial consumers of natural gas, which will entail building pipelines, and upgrading plant and fired equipment; and to capture CO2 from industry, compress, pipe and store it in depleted gas fields in the Irish Sea. The UK government recently awarded £33 million to HyNet to further develop this project, supported by a further £39 million of private funding from the HyNet consortium.

Investigative works have been undertaken to prove the feasibility of producing and supplying sufficient volumes of hydrogen to satisfy industrial demand, while preparatory work continues regarding the capture and storage of CO2.

The preparedness for the hydrogen revolution is in part driven by the funding from BEIS. Fuel switching studies and trials have commenced in which practical assessment will qualify the suitability of hydrogen as an alternative to natural gas.

This includes evaluating the introduction of 100% hydrogen into furnaces and fired equipment whilst parallel events have taken place assessing the effects of blending 20% hydrogen in natural gas for commercial and domestic use.

This is where Otto Simon’s extensive experience in gas processing, gas cleaning and managing the process and its safety standards and requirements is quickly gaining ground.

Otto Simon

3

4

Inside Oil & Gas

OTTO SIMON

I

PROFILE

Hydrogen in an industrial environment

Highly commended

Otto Simon is also heavily involved in a fuel-switching project at glass manufacturer NSG’s gas furnace in St Helens. It designed and implemented innovative modifications to allow the glass manufacturing plant to run on hydrogen fuel.

“The process was successfully trialled, marking an important step in decarbonising the UK industry,” commented Mr Mansfield.

Before a wholesale switch to hydrogen is made, the effect of its use on the manufacturing process needs to be tested and understood. Unlike boiler systems where fuel is used to raise steam or hot water, which can be piped for use elsewhere, fuel used in the manufacture of glass comes into direct contact with the product.

Any adverse impact upon product quality would be unacceptable.

Working with its partners, Otto Simon provided design, construction and commissioning services to facilitate the innovative hydrogen trials at NSG Pilkington Glass’s Greengate site. The trials were successfully completed and demonstrated hydrogen was as capable as natural gas in achieving excellent melting performance and product quality in the furnace, with vastly reduced carbon emissions.

“It gives confidence that a wholesale switch to hydrogen as a fuel is not only technically feasible, it would eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the process,” stated Mr Mansfield.

Once the feasibility was established, Otto Simon developed a conceptual design for full-scale deployment of switching to the new hydrogen fuel. It oversaw the construction and commissioning of infrastructure for the hydrogen trials at Greengate, and NSG successfully manufactured architectural glass using hydrogen fuel in a world-first trial.

Mr Mansfield asserted: “The results and experience gained from this project will allow us to support companies in other industries to trial and adapt to using hydrogen as a fuel source.”

Otto Simon and partner FutureBay were recently highly commended in the Energy Awards and the Sustainability Award at the IChemE Global Awards 2021, which celebrate chemical, process and biochemical engineering excellence.

The awards were for FutureBay’s development of a new energy storage technology based on a novel thermal cycle that delivers energy storage, cooling, heating, and converts waste heat to electricity.

By capturing, storing, and converting heat to electricity, the system allows users to shift the electrical load from peak to offpeak periods, utilising heat currently wasted to improve overall energy efficiency and enable electrical demand to be managed.

The technology can be applied to industrial and commercial processes, delivering significant environmental benefits to diverse industries. It can provide users with savings of up to 50% of energy consumption, 100% of energy costs and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 60%.

FutureBay built, tested, and operated a full-scale demonstration unit in Oldham which confirmed all aspects of the system’s operation. Otto Simon acted as principal designer to deliver the demonstration unit, supporting the concept development and managing the detailed design, installation and commissioning.

Once the system was built and commissioned, trials were conducted and proved the FutureBay system could capture the waste heat from the data centre and deliver 1.2MWth of cooling whilst simultaneously delivering stored electricity.

FutureBay’s containerised system has been designed for easy installation onto existing facilities. The system has been designed with environmental, health and safety benefits in mind, using nontoxic materials operating at low temperatures and pressures for safe and reliable operation.

6

Otto Simon

Mr Mansfield commented: “Otto Simon is proud of our involvement with the development of this project. FutureBay’s novel thermal cycle delivers energy storage capabilities which can benefit a wide range of commercial and industrial applications, as well as help to achieve the transition to a zero-carbon economy.”

More achievements Otto Simon has also been instrumental in working with Calysta and the Centre for Process Innovation to deliver a new biotech plant in Teesside that brings an interesting new twist in turning fuel into food.

As fish increasingly becomes an important source of protein, the debate for sustainability and protection of wild fish builds.

The required increase in fish production will have to come from farmed fish, and these fish need to be fed; at this point, technology enters the debate.

Calysta has developed a process utilising methanotrophic bacteria that convert methane into a single cell protein product.

The product, Feedkind™, is an alternative to fishmeal in aquaculture and promises to be a significant development in the protein market.

Otto Simon designed and constructed a plant to produce FeedKind™ protein that contributed to it winning ‘Team Award’ at the 2017 Global IChemE Awards. Following the successful project delivery, Otto Simon supports developing a pre-FEED Process Design Package for commercial-scale projects worldwide.

Otto Simon has also worked with Go Green Fuels, a spin-off from Advanced Plasma Power, to deliver a Compressed Bio-Methane Demonstration Plant in Swindon. The plant was designed to convert waste from local homes and businesses into bio-methane for injection into the local gas distribution network and reduce landfill.

The project won the Energy Award, Sustainability Award and Outstanding Achievement award at the 2018 Global IChemE awards.

Key differentiators Mr Mansfield emphasised that Otto Simon differentiated itself from the competition as it excelled in its chosen field while acting as an employee owned trust.

He explained: “Surveys show that employee-owned businesses achieve higher productivity, improved innovation, and better

resilience to economic turbulence, and workforces are more engaged, more fulfilled, and less stressed.

“By giving employees a stake and a voice in how the business is run, the employee ownership helps promote a general wellbeing of employees.” It also reduces staff turnover, enables long-running relationships with clients and encourages repeat business.

Ensuring all projects are delivered to the highest HSEQ standard, Otto Simon has won the RoSPA Gold Award for the past five years, earning them the RoSPA Gold Medal Award for outstanding health and safety achievements and they recently achieved over 1 million manhours without a RIDDOR reportable accident.

Mr Mansfield reflected that Otto Simon is agile and responsive, with a flat management hierarchy that enables them to adapt quickly and be flexible to clients’ requirements.

“Otto Simon has extensive experience delivering major projects from concept stage to commercial operation. We support clients at every step of their project development and forge lasting relationships to provide consistent, high-quality support. All this is underpinned by maintaining open, honest and collaborative working relationships.”

While the business has naturally enacted measures to limit the impact of the pandemic and continues to assess and respond to industry challenges, Mr Mansfield emphasised that one of Otto Simon’s key activities is to keep track of its carbon footprint.

He added: “Maintaining a continual improvement quality system means we’re always looking for ways to improve our operations. We work with clients to develop innovative technologies and processes which promote sustainability and support them in improving energy efficiency at their sites and facilities.”

Looking ahead, Mr Mansfield said: “The government’s hydrogen strategy lays out a road map for the next 20 years of hydrogen development in the UK. Otto Simon plans to continue supporting the development of the hydrogen economy in the North West and continue investing in emergent and novel technologies to promote decarbonisation.

“The challenge to the industry is to meet Net-Zero by 2050 and Otto Simon aims to position itself as an expert on hydrogen fuel switching.”

Otto Simon 7