SGP BioEnergy to add green H2 production to planned biofuel hub in Panama

SGP BioEnergy announced on Tuesday that the Golden City Biorefinery project in Panama will add a new component to produce 405,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year and will rely on technologies from Denmark’s Topsoe A/S to do so.

As unveiled in May 2022, a group of companies led by SGP BioEnergy undertook a five-year government-supported project in Panama known locally as the Biorefineria Ciudad Dorada. The plan is to build the world's largest biofuel production and distribution hub in Colon and Balboa.

On Tuesday, the company said that the project has all required land rights secured, which paves the way for the start of construction next year. Production is seen to commence in 2025.

As previously reported, the entire biorefinery will be delivered in three stages, each adding a 60,000 barrels-per-day production capacity for a total of 180,000 barrels of advanced biofuels per day at completion. Now, SGP BioEnergy also announced it will utilise Topsoe’s HydroFlex and H2 Bridge technologies, the latter of which captures waste propane and carbon off gas from the refining process and converts them into green hydrogen to power operations at the refining facility.

"We will not only produce the fuel that will decarbonise transportation but do so in a way that is also decarbonizing the manufacturing process itself,” commented Randy Delbert Letang, CEO of SGP BioEnergy, adding that this “is the first time both advanced biofuels and green hydrogen will be produced together at this scale.”

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