BAYTOWN, TEXAS: Air Products Inc said that it will invest
$350-$400 million to build, own and operate a world-scale steam methane reformer (SMR) in Baytown, Texas. The SMR will produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO) to be supplied to customers from Air Products’ Gulf Coast Hydrogen and CO Pipeline Networks. Both product capacities from the new facility are already sold-out ahead of the anticipated plant onstream in 2018.
“This SMR strengthens our market-leading position and also Air Products’ ability to serve the many customers on our pipeline networks with a new, efficient and reliable source of hydrogen and carbon monoxide,” said Marie Ffolkes, president, industrial gases, Americas, Air Products.
The SMR and cold box will produce approximately 125 million standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen and a world-scale supply of carbon monoxide.
The new SMR will be built through the global hydrogen alliance between Air Products and Technip.
“The ability for the new plant to connect to the Gulf Coast Pipeline (GCP), the world’s largest hydrogen plant and pipeline network system, is always a value-added plus for hydrogen customers in terms of ensuring product reliability,” said Ffolkes.
Hydrogen is widely used in petroleum refining processes to remove impurities found in crude oil such as sulphur, olefins and aromatics to meet product fuels specifications. Removing these components allows gasoline and diesel to burn cleaner and thus makes hydrogen a critical component in the production of cleaner fuels needed by modern, efficient internal combustion engines, it said.
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