ExxonMobil Says Baytown Will be a Hydrogen Mega-Producer

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Progress is building for what could be the largest hydrogen facility of its kind, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Spring, Texas) said after agreeing with gas services company Air Liquide (Paris, France) to produce low-carbon fuels at the Baytown Refinery in Texas.

ExxonMobil on Monday said it signed an agreement with Air Liquide to produce hydrogen and ammonia at the refinery in Baytown, which has a peak processing capacity of 557,000 barrels per day (BBL/d).

Both are considered viable sources of energy. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and an incredibly potent energy carrier, though it needs to be extracted from other molecules such as methane, which consists of three hydrogen atoms bonded to one carbon.

Ammonia is usually considered something of a greener option because the hydrogen atoms bind to nitrogen rather than carbon.

"Momentum continues to build for the world's largest low-carbon hydrogen project and the emerging hydrogen market," said Dan Ammann, the president of ExxonMobil's low-carbon solutions arm. "This partnership with Air Liquide further strengthens our Baytown project by enabling hydrogen distribution through existing networks and securing key feedstocks."

Air Liquide, for its part, said it plans to invest up to $850 million on four large modular air-separation units that will double the amount of oxygen produced at Baytown. Those units will produce oxygen that will support hydrogen production as well as nitrogen to support the production of ammonia, which would go to foreign markets.

Pending a final investment decision, Air Liquide said this would be its largest investment ever, while at the same time lowering the plant's overall carbon footprint.

The facility is expected to produce 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day and 1 million tons of ammonia each year, with some of those products moving through Air Liquide's existing pipeline network.

ExxonMobil in January tasked French energy services company Technip Energies (Nanterre) for front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for its hydrogen production facility at Baytown. Texas-based ExxonMobil said it believes the project will be the largest facility of its kind in the world once startup begins, possibly as early as 2027.

Elsewhere, the U.S. major said it would be able to capture nearly all of the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced from the facility with carbon capture and storage technology, which would be open to third-party emitters in the area.

Another 30% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions is expected from switching over from natural gas to low-carbon hydrogen.

ExxonMobil in September started up two new chemical units at Baytown, valued at $2 billion. The new units produce polymer modifiers, which enhance the performance of various chemical products, and linear alpha olefins, which are used in plastic packaging, among other things.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Project Database can click here and here for details on the air-separation units.

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