2026-10-09
- Perpetual Next and Lhyfe Delfzijl signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on 2026-10-05 to assess long-term renewable hydrogen supply to the DeltaNor biomethanol plant.
- The volume under study is up to approximately 12,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year, subject to further technical and commercial evaluation.
- DeltaNor is a planned 220,000 tonne-per-year biomethanol facility in the Delfzijl chemical cluster, the Netherlands.
- Added hydrogen would let more biogenic carbon in biomass-derived syngas be converted into biomethanol, raising yields.
Perpetual Next and Lhyfe Delfzijl, a subsidiary of Lhyfe, have signed an MoU to assess renewable hydrogen supply to the planned DeltaNor biomethanol plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. Hydrocarbon Engineering reported the news on 2026-10-07, and chemXplore dates the MoU to 2026-10-05. The volume under study is up to approximately 12,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen a year, and any supply agreement still requires further technical and commercial evaluation. The MoU is part of the raw-material groundwork for a large biomethanol project that is moving toward an FID (Final Investment Decision).
DeltaNor is a planned 220,000 tonne-per-year biomethanol facility being developed by Perpetual Next, a sustainable raw materials producer, and is one of five biomethanol projects the company is pursuing. Its location, Delfzijl, is an established industrial and chemical cluster that already uses large amounts of hydrogen as a feedstock. chemXplore lists the project, which converts biogenic residual streams, as being at the FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) and pre-FID stage.
On the supply side, Lhyfe Delfzijl is developing a 120 MW renewable hydrogen project in the same area, which chemXplore refers to as DelfzHyl. Lhyfe operates four production sites in Europe, with six expected by the end of 2026.
The technical purpose of the hydrogen is to supplement the hydrogen content of syngas derived from biomass. Biomass syngas is often short of hydrogen relative to its carbon, so adding renewable hydrogen allows more biogenic carbon to be converted into methanol, increasing yield. The resulting biomethanol targets hard-to-electrify sectors such as shipping and chemicals.
Perpetual Next CEO René Buwalda said access to competitively priced renewable hydrogen will be an important consideration in developing DeltaNor. Lhyfe Chief Strategy Officer Luc Graré said the agreement reflects the strong industrial complementarity between Lhyfe’s renewable hydrogen project in Delfzijl and Perpetual Next’s biomethanol development.
- DeltaNor capacity: 220,000 tonnes per year of biomethanol.
- Hydrogen volume under study: up to approximately 12,000 tonnes per year.
- Lhyfe Delfzijl project: 120 MW of renewable hydrogen.
- Lhyfe footprint: four production sites in Europe, six expected by end of 2026.
- Capital at stake: chemXplore reports up to about 1 billion euros for the project.
- Storage plan: JPB Logistics was selected in May 2026, with planned tanks of 21,000 to 35,000 cubic metres, an inbound pipeline, outbound barge and trucks as backup, all dependent on FID.
- The MoU is not a binding supply contract, and price and terms were not disclosed.
Timeline
- 2026-05 — JPB Logistics selected for Delfzijl biomethanol storage.
- 2026-09-03 — Perpetual Next agrees with PreZero Netherlands to supply waste wood as feedstock.
- 2026-09-14 — Perpetual Next appoints Bilfinger for the project (reported by gasworld as owner’s engineer).
- 2026-10-05 — Perpetual Next and Lhyfe Delfzijl sign the hydrogen supply MoU.
- 2026-10-07 — Hydrocarbon Engineering publishes the MoU news.
Note
Biomethanol is methanol made from syngas derived from biomass or other biogenic feedstocks. RFNBO, short for renewable fuels of non-biological origin, is the EU term for fuels and hydrogen produced from renewable energy.