Air Products has announced plans to construct a new liquid hydrogen plant at its La Porte, Texas industrial gas facility.
Image: Air Products’ La Porte facility in Texas. Photo: courtesy of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
With capacity to produce approximately 30 tons per day, the new liquid hydrogen plant of Air Products is intended to meet increasing product demand from customer markets.
Scheduled to be commissioned in 2021, the liquid hydrogen plant will liquefy and deliver the resulting hydrogen in trailers to customers in industries including electronics, chemical and petrochemical, metals, material handling, float glass, edible fats and oils, and utilities.
The liquid hydrogen plant will receive hydrogen from Air Products’ existing 600-mile Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline system network.
The pipeline system stretches from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana. It supplies over 1.4 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 23 hydrogen production facilities to customers.
Air Products Americas president Marie Ffolkes said: “The investment in this new liquid hydrogen production facility in Texas will assist with meeting current customer demand, as well as capture the increased growth that we see coming from several markets.
“Logistically, our La Porte plant has several operational benefits which make the site selection for this new facility a good choice.
“We are confident with this additional capacity that we will be able to meet the projected growing liquid hydrogen needs coming from the varied industries in the United States for which a reliable source of this product is vitally important to our customers’ manufacturing operations.”
In addition to mile Gulf Coast pipeline, the firm operates hydrogen pipelines in California, US; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and Sarnia, Ontario and Alberta, Canada.
Additionally, Air Products operates liquid hydrogen production plants in New Orleans, Louisiana; Sacramento, California; Sarnia, Ontario, Canada; and Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
Recently, Air Products has signed cooperation and equipment supply agreements with Beijing Sinoscience Fullcryo Technology (Fullcryo) to accelerate the development of hydrogen infrastructure and support the development of commercial-scale liquid hydrogen-based fueling station in China.
As part of the deal, the two firms will cooperate from demonstration to commercialization, including construction, operation, maintenance, and gas supply for liquid hydrogen-based fueling stations.