The company said it had been awarded a €976,000 ($1.16m) contract to supply a 2,000nm³/h oxygen purification system to Motor Oil for a green hydrogen project currently under construction at its Corinth refinery.

The unit will be combined with the 50MW electrolytic hydrogen production plant to deliver high-purity oxygen.

While the company hasn’t disclosed where the purified oxygen will be used, it could also be supplied to the refinery. H2 View has contacted Metacon for confirmation.

Oxygen is used in refineries for sulphur recovery, fluid catalytic processing, and other oxidation processes. Typically, these sites source oxygen from on-site air separation units, pressure swing adsorption systems, or, in small-scale uses, via liquid oxygen deliveries.

While electrolysers produce 8kg of oxygen per kilogram of hydrogen, costs associated with drying, compressing, and purifying the gas for commercial use have so far been prohibitive.

However, Linde recently told the European Industrial Gases Association Winter Summit that while electrolytic oxygen was unlikely to replace conventional air separation, wider industrial use could be seen over the next five to 10 years.

This could help offset the cost of operating the over €30m ($35.6m) electrolyser system, by reducing volumes of externally sourced oxygen.

“The addition of an oxygen purification system enhances the overall efficiency and performance of the hydrogen plant,” said Metacon President and CEO Christer Wikner.

Metacon is installing alkaline electrolysers based on technology made by China’s Peric under a license and manufacturing agreement.

The whole Motor Oil project was backed by a €111.7m ($132.4m) subsidy from the Greek government.