New Air Products Facility Starts Operations

Industrial gases firm Air Products announced that its new liquid hydrogen production site in La Porte, TX is now onstream. Connected to Air Products’ Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network, the plant is capable of producing 30 tn/day of liquid hydrogen.

“We invested in this new liquid hydrogen production facility in Texas to show our commitment to our customers and to help meet current and future demand. The addition of this new capacity also will allow us to target the increased growth we anticipate from several markets, namely the hydrogen for mobility market,” Francesco Maione, president, Americas at Air Products, said in a recent release. “The La Porte facility’s location and operational benefits provide us with numerous supply options from this plant.”

Hydrogen will be supplied to a range of end user industries, including edible fats and oils, utilities, float glass, material handling, chemical and petrochemical, electronics, and metals.

Air Products’ La Porte location currently contains hydrogen and syngas production assets and an air separation unit (ASU). The company also operates liquid hydrogen facilities in New Orleans, LA, Sacramento, CA, Sarnia, ON, and Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Maione said the company intends to build a new zero-carbon, green liquid hydrogen plant in the Southwest US to support the mobility market in California and other areas. Air Products plans to use hydrogen fuel cell zero emission vehicles for its distribution activities by 2022.