LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (February 2, 2000)—Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) has started up its $80 million, 100 million standard-cubic-feet-per-day (scfd) hydrogen plant in Carson, California.
The plant is the fourth hydrogen production facility commissioned by Air Products for West Coast refiners since 1993. It is also one of 15 supply arrangements the company has undertaken for refiners worldwide within the past five years.
The Carson plant is supplying Equilon Enterprises LLC—a joint venture of Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc. and Shell Oil Products Company—and ARCO Products Company with high-purity hydrogen which is critical for converting heavy crude oils into California's cleaner burning gasoline and low sulfur diesel. The plant is also connected to Air Products' existing Los Angeles Basin pipeline network to supply product to other local refineries.
"About half of our annual capital investment over the past several years has been in hydrogen for refining operations, a central and growing area of our business both here in the U.S. and globally," said John E. McGlade, Air Products' vice president and general manager, Chemical Process Industries and Environmental and Energy Systems. "Our newest plant in Carson reinforces our position as the leading third-party supplier of this vital product."
Air Products operates 31 steam methane reforming plants, one partial oxidation facility, 16 hydrogen purification facilities, six hydrogen liquefiers, and six hydrogen and carbon monoxide pipeline systems around the world, with global hydrogen, carbon monoxide and synthesis gas production capacity of 1.1 billion scfd. The company expects this capacity to grow to 1.3 billion scfd by the end of 2000.
The Carson plant represents the ninth facility Air Products and Technip USA Corporation (formerly KTI Corporation), San Dimas, Calif., have executed together under a worldwide cooperative agreement. Through the arrangement, Technip provides design expertise for hydrogen plants and steam methane reformers, while Air Products provides pressure swing adsorption cleanup systems and owns, operates, and maintains the facilities for customers under long-term agreements.
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an international supplier of industrial gases and related equipment, and selected chemicals. With corporate headquarters in eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, near Allentown, the company has annual revenues of $5 billion, operations in over 30 countries, and employs more than 17,000 people |
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