Salt End | |
---|---|
Salt End Power Station | |
Location within the East Riding of Yorkshire | |
OS grid reference | TA165289 |
Civil parish | |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | HULL |
Postcode district | HU12 |
Dialling code | 01482 |
Police | Humberside |
Fire | Humberside |
Ambulance | Yorkshire |
UK Parliament | |
Salt End or Saltend is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated on the north bank of the Humber Estuary just outside the Hull eastern boundary on the A1033 road. [1] It forms part of the civil parish of Preston.
Salt End is dominated by a chemical park owned by PX group, and a gas-fired power station owned by Triton Power. Chemicals produced at Salt End include acetic acid, acetic anhydride, ammonia, bio-butanol, bio-ethanol, ethyl acetate (ETAC) and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) with animal feed also being produced on site.
The site was opened in May 1914 when the North Eastern Railway Company built jetties connected to its railway system 1 mile (1.6 km) east of King George Dock. [2] The first ship to dock there was carrying 3,000 imperial gallons (14,000 L; 3,600 US gal) of benzene and thereafter, oil came to be imported at the site with the Asiatic Petroleum Company (Shell) and the Anglo Mexican Company (Shell Mex) with BP joining the site in 1921. [3]
In 1930 the site was expanded to produce acetic acids from alcohol which were eventually closed down by BP in 1990. [4] In April 1967, BP bought the distillery at Salt End outright. [5] In 1989, Air Products and Yara started operations on the site with Air Products providing raw material for use on site and Yara producing ammonia which it started shipping around Europe. [6]
In 2000, the 94-mile (151 km) [7] Teesside to Saltend pipeline was opened which transports ethylene to Saltend to be used on site. [6] In March 2007, BP Announced the sale of their Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) and Ethyl acetate (ETAC) plants to Ineos Oxides which also included ownership and maintenance of the ethylene pipeline from Teesside. [7] In 2009, BP created the Saltend Chemicals Park[sic], which covers an area of 370 acres (150 ha) [8] and they continued to manage the site [9] until March 2017 when Teesside based PX Group took over the day to day running of the park. [10] The Humber industrial region emits 12 million tonnes of CO2 per year; the biggest in the UK. [11] As of 2024, Salt End is ranked among the top 50 largest industrial parks by total investment. [12]
The BP acetyl plants at Salt End produce about 900,000 tonnes (890,000 long tons; 990,000 short tons) of acetic acid and acetic anhydride per year, [13] making BP the largest producer of these chemicals in Europe. Acetic acid is used in VAM, PTA esters and other intermediates and acetic anhydride is used in cellulose acetate and chemical derivatives. [14]
INEOS bought out the vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) and Ethyl acetate (ETAC) plants from BP in March 2007. The VAM plant was closed down in 2013 with the loss of 18 jobs. INEOS had invested £40 million in the plant but it couldn't make a profit against cheaper imports from the United States and Saudi Arabia. [15] The Ethyl acetate (ETAC) is still in production with ETAC being used in printing inks, glues, paints, packaging, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. [16]
Vivergo Fuels was a joint venture between BP, Associated British Foods and DuPont, with a 500,000 tonnes (550,000 tons) per year wheat-to-bioethanol plant at Saltend (although BP later sold its stake to Associated British Foods which gave them a 94% stake in the company). [17] After completion in 2012 the unit was intended to be the largest such plant in the UK and the 5th largest in Europe, but design and commissioning issues affected output in 2013. [18] The bioethanol produced is blended into petrol. [19]
Vivergo's construction was the subject of industrial action in March–April 2011 resulting from the termination of a contract with Redhall Engineering. [20] Construction was delayed for several months, but in August 2011 it restarted. [21] Protests at the gate of the Salt End site were heavily policed owing to severe disruption of the site and the road network to the east of Kingston upon Hull. [22] The plant's closure was announced in September 2018 with lower than expected market demand for ethanol in petrol fuel due to the UK government maintaining the mandated blend at 5% by volume rather than increasing to 10% as had been expected. [23] But in February 2021 it was announced that the plant would be restarted after the UK Government stated that E10 fuel would be introduced from September 2021. [24]
Salt End Power Station was commissioned in 2000 by Entergy an American power generator. It was later sold to Calpine Corporation, also an American power generator, in August 2001 for £562 million. In July 2005, Salt End was sold to International Power and Mitsui (70:30 share) for £500 million. [25] The site was built by Mitsubishi (MHI) and Raytheon.
The station is run on gas using single shaft 3 × Mitsubishi 701F gas Turbines machines with Alstom 400 MWe generators. The station has a total output of 1,200 MW; of that 100 MW is allocated to supply BP Chemicals. Each gas turbine has a Babcock Borsig Power (BBP) heat recovery steam generator, which all lead to one steam turbine per unit (single shaft machine means Gas turbine and Steam Turbine are on the same shaft). The waste product of electricity generation is steam at the rate of about 120 tonnes/h which is sold to BP Chemicals to use in their process. [26] This makes Salt End one of the most efficient[ clarification needed ] power stations in the UK. The plant is scheduled to use hydrogen from steam reformed natural gas for 30% of its power. [11]
In June 2009 the Environment Agency issued an environmental permit to Waste Recycling Group for a non-hazardous waste incinerator at Queen Elizabeth Dock, Saltend. The plant is an energy from waste facility, which will burn waste at high temperatures and use the energy to generate electricity [27] which was later backtracked due to strong opposition from the local town of Hedon with the fear of toxic fumes. [28]
North of the A1033 and away from the main Saltend Chemicals Park, is Yorkshire Water's waste water treatment works. Although Yorkshire Water invested £30 million in October 2015 to improve the odours emanating from the plant, [29] local people in Preston and Hedon have employed solicitors to bring about legal action over the smell. [30]
Nippon Gohsei produce ethyl-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) on site. The EVOH line at Salt End is the largest in the world and is marketed under the brand name SOARNOL. The product is an alternative packing material composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. When the product enters into the waste stream, it causes no toxic gases when burnt and only burns at half the temperature of polyethylene. [31]
In July 2021, clearance works were started on a new factory designed to process rare earth metals mined in Africa. Pensana Salt End would seek to focus on producing neodymium and praseodymium oxide. [32]
Yorkshire and the Humber is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The population in 2021 was 5,480,774 with its largest settlements being Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Hull, and York.
The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to the south-west, and Lincolnshire to the south across the Humber Estuary. The city of Kingston upon Hull is the largest settlement.
An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base. "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion typically found in aqueous solution and written with the chemical formula C
2H
3O−
2. The neutral molecules formed by the combination of the acetate ion and a positive ion are also commonly called "acetates". The simplest of these is hydrogen acetate with corresponding salts, esters, and the polyatomic anion CH
3CO−
2, or CH
3COO−
.
Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a Fortune 500 corporation. The company is the world's leading producer of acetic acid, producing about 1.95 million tonnes per year, representing approximately 25% of global production. Celanese is also the world's largest producer of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM).
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and fibers for everyday purposes. Founded in 1920 and based in Kingsport, Tennessee, the company operates 36 manufacturing sites worldwide and employs approximately 14,000 people.
Ethyl acetate is the organic compound with the formula CH3CO2CH2CH3, simplified to C4H8O2. This colorless liquid has a characteristic sweet smell and is used in glues, nail polish removers, and the decaffeination process of tea and coffee. Ethyl acetate is the ester of ethanol and acetic acid; it is manufactured on a large scale for use as a solvent.
Acetic anhydride, or ethanoic anhydride, is the chemical compound with the formula (CH3CO)2O. Commonly abbreviated Ac2O, it is the simplest isolable anhydride of a carboxylic acid and is widely used as a reagent in organic synthesis. It is a colorless liquid that smells strongly of acetic acid, which is formed by its reaction with moisture in the air.
Sodium acetate, CH3COONa, also abbreviated NaOAc, is the sodium salt of acetic acid. This colorless deliquescent salt has a wide range of uses.
Ineos Group Limited is a British multinational conglomerate headquartered and registered in London. As of 2021, it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world, with additional operations in fuel, packaging and food, construction, automotive, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and professional sports. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own board and operating almost entirely independently, although founder Jim Ratcliffe, who owns a controlling interest, and his associates, who collectively own a minority share, sit on their boards occasionally.
The bioconversion of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels can be accomplished using the MixAlco process. Through bioconversion of biomass to a mixed alcohol fuel, more energy from the biomass will end up as liquid fuels than in converting biomass to ethanol by yeast fermentation.
Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe is a British billionaire, chemical engineer, and businessman. Ratcliffe is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the INEOS chemicals group, which he founded in 1998.
Ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) is a formal copolymer of ethylene and vinyl alcohol. Because the latter monomer mainly exists as its tautomer acetaldehyde, the copolymer is prepared by polymerization of ethylene and vinyl acetate to give the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer followed by hydrolysis. EVOH copolymer is defined by the mole % ethylene content: lower ethylene content grades have higher barrier properties; higher ethylene content grades have lower temperatures for extrusion.
Grangemouth Refinery is an oil refinery complex located on the Firth of Forth in Grangemouth, Scotland, currently operated by Petroineos. It is the only operating crude oil refinery in Scotland and currently one of the six remaining refineries in the UK. Grangemouth is the oldest refinery in the UK and supplies 65% of Scotland's oil products, including petrol and diesel.
Derwent Power Station is a mothballed 214MWe gas-fired power station on Holme Lane near Spondon in Derby, England. It is built on the site of the former Spondon Power Station
Acetic acid, systematically named ethanoic acid, is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula CH3COOH. Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component of vinegar apart from water. It has been used, as a component of vinegar, throughout history from at least the third century BC.
The 2009 Lindsey Oil Refinery strikes were a series of wildcat strikes that affected the energy industry in the United Kingdom in 2009. The action involved workers at around a dozen energy sites across the UK who walked out in support of other British workers at the Total's Lindsey Oil Refinery. The Lindsey Oil Refinery construction workers went on strike because employment was not offered to them on a £200 million construction contract to build a hydro desulphurisation unit at the site.
Vivergo Fuels is a bio-ethanol producer, headquartered in Hessle, East Riding of Yorkshire, but whose plant is based at Salt End, Kingston upon Hull, England. The company produces bio-fuels from locally sourced wheat and besides producing bio-ethanol, a by-product of animal feed is also part of the bio-fuel process. The company's plant was subject to a shutdown between November 2017 and April 2018 whilst demand for their product was low. The company blamed the United Kingdom government for not ruling that bio-fuel additives to petrol should be greater than 4.75%.
The south bank of the Humber Estuary in England is a relatively unpopulated area containing large scale industrial development built from the 1950s onward, including national scale petroleum and chemical plants as well as gigawatt scale gas fired power stations.
Hedon Aerodrome, was an airfield located 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The airfield was in operation intermittently between 1912 and the late 1950s both in a civilian and a military capacity. It was rejected as a Second World War airfield due to its proximity to the Salt End chemical works and oil tanks.
Pensana Saltend is a future processing facility for rare earth metals at Salt End, near Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. When operating at capability, the plant aims to produce 5% of world demand for neodymium and praseodymium oxide. Work on the site started in 2021, with full opening by 2023. The facility will be the first of its kind in Europe.