Air Products announced that its new steam methane reformer (SMR) and cold box in Geismar, Louisiana are onstream and supplying Huntsman’s neighboring industrial operations. Air Products built, owns and operates the facility under a long-term agreement, supplying carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen and steam produced from the facility to Huntsman. Air Products’ SMR is also connected to its Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline and network system (GCP), which is the world’s largest hydrogen plant and pipeline network system.
The new facility is located on land leased from Huntsman and produces approximately 6.5 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of CO, 50 MMSCFD of hydrogen, and up to 50,000 pounds per hour of steam. The facility is also capable of being expanded to increase CO supply in the future to support additional demand.
With the additional hydrogen production facility, Air Products continues to expand the capacity and capabilities of its GCP. Air Products’ GCP, dedicated in 2012, is an over 600-mile pipeline span that currently stretches from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana.
In January 2020, Air Products announced another addition to the pipeline is coming with an SMR to be built in Texas City, Texas. When the Texas City facility is added to the GCP system, customers will be reliably served by over 1.7 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 24 connected production facilities.
Pipelines offer a safe, robust, and reliable supply of hydrogen to refineries and petrochemical manufacturers around the world. In addition to the Gulf Coast Pipeline, Air Products also has hydrogen pipelines in California in the U.S.; in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada; and in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
