US industrial gas company Air Products is to build a $4.5 billion (€3.9 billion) blue hydrogen clean energy complex in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, US.
The complex, which will be built, owned, and operated by Air Products, will produce more than 750 million scfd of blue hydrogen from natural gas, capturing around 95 percent of the produced CO2 for permanent storage.
Some of the hydrogen produced will be compressed for supply to Air Products’ customers on the US Gulf Coast, via its existing pipeline network. The rest will be used to make blue ammonia for transport around the world, for conversion back into hydrogen. The co-products – liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen and liquid argon – will also be supplied to customers around the world.
The CO2 captured at the facility will be compressed and transported via pipeline to a number of inland sequestration sites, where it will be stored in geologic pore space around 1 mile (1.6 km) below the surface. Air Products has received approval from the Louisiana State Mineral and Energy Board, part of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, for the permanent sequestration of the CO2.
The project will generate 2,000 construction jobs over three years and 170 permanent jobs, with an expected annual payroll of $15.9 million. The project is Air Products’ largest ever investment in the US.
Air Products is also building a net zero hydrogen complex in Edmonton, Canada, and a green ammonia production facility joint venture in NEOM, Saudi Arabia powered by renewable energy.
Hydrogen as a potential fuel of the future seems to be gaining momentum globally, as governments and companies seek to meet climate targets. Earlier in October 2021, Exolum announced it would build a €2 million green hydrogen production plant near Madrid in Spain, using Fusion Fuel technology, while BP is considering producing green hydrogen at its Kwinana refinery site, which is shutting down. BP is also planning a 1 GW blue hydrogen plant in the UK.
The Port of Rotterdam Authority, Koole Terminals, Chiyoda Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation are carrying out a feasibility study into commercial-scale hydrogen imports. In the US, clean infrastructure firm Bakken Energy bought the assets of the Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas), including the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in North Dakota, US, from Basin Electric, to form a hydrogen hub.
For more information visit www.airproducts.co.uk
