Air Products (NYSE:
APD), the leading global hydrogen provider, today announced the signing
of a long-term supply contract with Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) to build a
new world-scale hydrogen production plant to be located at Monsanto's
Luling, Louisiana Roundup® facility. The new hydrogen plant is scheduled
to be on-stream in January 2012.
Air Products will build a steam methane reformer (SMR) producing over 100 million
standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of hydrogen. The SMR will be connected
to Air Products' East Gulf Coast pipeline network, which supplies refineries
with hydrogen needed to make cleaner burning transportation fuels, in addition
to meeting the hydrogen needs of the local petrochemical industry. In addition,
the facility will produce additional hydrogen via a clean-up of a hydrogen-rich
off-gas feed coming from Monsanto. Monsanto will use steam from Air Products'
SMR process to benefit its Roundup® production plant.
“This agreement provides a win-win for Air Products and Monsanto. Air
Products adds a world-class SMR facility, which along with our previously announced
Garyville and Baton Rouge SMRs, will enhance the reliability of our leading
East Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline system. Monsanto's benefits include
a reduction in natural gas used to make steam and an improved outlet for its
off-gas stream, which will now be purified and used to make hydrogen,”
said Wilbur Mok, vice president–North America Tonnage Gases for Air Products.
“This is a relationship with outstanding potential. It will strengthen
our own operations and provide important benefits to both our community and
industry in the area. It will help us serve our farmer customers in a more environmentally
sustainable manner,” said Mike Frank, Monsanto's Manufacturing Director–Crop
Protection Division.
The Air Products SMR will feature technology advancements to maximize facility
energy efficiency and emission reductions. “We have enhanced our SMR design
to target minimal loss of heat to the environment, which in turn reduces natural
gas usage requirements to make hydrogen. These efforts and other productivity
improvements support the company's overall goals of reducing energy consumption
and emissions,” said Tom Wendahl, manager–Tonnage Gases, East Gulf
Coast Area for Air Products.
Air Products' East Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline system currently reaches
more than 175 continuous miles from Baton Rouge to Chalmette, Louisiana. The
network has 15 hydrogen production source points feeding the pipeline system,
including the recently announced hydrogen plants being built in Garyville and
Baton Rouge, which have anticipated on-stream dates of October 2009 and April
2010, respectively. Additionally, in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Air Products has a
second and larger hydrogen pipeline system of over 300 miles reaching from the
Houston Ship Channel in Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Air Products also has hydrogen pipeline networks operating around the world
in the U.S. in Southern California; in Sarnia, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta
in Canada; and in Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
Air Products' hydrogen facility in Luling will be built through the global
alliance between Air Products and Technip. This alliance, which has built over
30 hydrogen production facilities, continues to provide the worldwide refining
industry with competitive technology and world-class safety. Technip provides
the design and construction expertise for steam reformers while Air Products
provides the gas separation technology. Air Products, through its extensive
operating network, and Technip, from its large reference base, also bring effective
operational and engineering knowledge to “design-in” high reliability
and efficiency. The plants are operated and maintained by Air Products under
long-term agreements with customers.