Air Products-Technip Alliance to Develop Hydrogen Facility for Exxon Mobil's Rotterdam Refinery

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Air Products & Chemicals Incorporated (NYSE:APD) (Allentown, Pennsylvania) secured a contract to develop a large-scale hydrogen production facility in the Netherlands to supply hydrogen to Exxon Mobil Corporation's (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) refinery in Rotterdam and other customers in the region. Air Products will develop the production unit through its global alliance with Technip SA (OTC:TKPPY) (Paris, France), the H2 Alliance.

Scheduled for commissioning in the second half of 2011, the plant will employ advanced technology aimed at maximizing energy efficiency and reducing emissions. This will be achieved through an enhanced plant design aimed at minimizing natural gas requirements and lowering the loss of heat to the environment. The unit will be connected through a four-mile pipeline to Air Products' existing 35-mile hydrogen pipeline network in Rotterdam, which connects the firm's hydrogen facilities to the chemical and refining industries in the region.

The project follows two similar contracts awarded to Air Products in October 2008 for supplying hydrogen to Exxon Mobil's refineries in the U.S. The first of these contracts entails the development of a new production facility to serve Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and other customers in the region. The plant is scheduled to begin operations in March 2010, and will be connected to Air Products' hydrogen pipeline network in the region. Touted as the largest hydrogen pipeline in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, the firm's hydrogen pipeline network has a capacity of 650 million metric standard cubic feet per day and caters to about 50 customers in the refining and process industries. The second contract is a long-term agreement signed with ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company to supply additional hydrogen to Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, Texas, from April 2010.

Established in 1992, the Air Products-Technip H2 Alliance specializes in developing hydrogen production facilities based on the steam methane reformer (SMR) process. The alliance brings together Technip's expertise in the design and construction of steam reformers and Air Products' gas separation technology to supply hydrogen to the refining industry. The alliance has executed more than 25 projects in a period of 12 years. The firm currently operates 30 hydrogen and synthesis gas production facilities worldwide, including 19 facilities in the U.S., three in Canada, two in Italy, and one each in Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In February this year, Air Products and Technip announced a long-term extension beyond the year 2020 for the H2 Alliance.

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