Air Products to Expand Hydrogen Capacity in Lake Charles, La., Area
www.fuelcelltoday.com 13 March 2003 Author: Anonymous Provider: World Refining Originally Published:20021201.
Air Products has signed an agreement to supply the ConocoPhillips Lake Charles, La., refinery with hydrogen. To support ConocoPhillips, and perhaps other refiners in the area, Air Products will build and operate a new hydrogen facility in Lake Charles, with a capacity in excess of 100 million standard cubic feet per day.
Air Products already has signed another long-term hydrogen supply agreement with a major Lake Charles-area refinery. To serve the two customers, Air Products will link its new facility to its existing hydrogen pipeline network, which serves about 40 clients.
To meet ConocoPhillips' hydrogen requirements, pipeline shipments will commence prior to the end of 2002, with the anticipated startup of the new hydrogen production facility by mid-2004. "This supply arrangement is one of over 20 that the company has undertaken for refiners worldwide within the past 10 years," said Jeff Byrne, Air Products' regional vice president for chemical and process industries in North America.
The ConocoPhillips Lake Charles refinery has a capacity of 250,000 bpd, and it processes both heavy high-sulfur crude (mainly from Venezuela and Mexico) and low-sulfur crude. The refinery also produces a full range of fuel products and the feedstock for Excel Paralubes, ConocoPhillips' joint-venture facility that produces high-quality lubricating base oils, representing approximately 10% of U.S. lubricating base oil production.
The new hydrogen facility, a natural gas-based hydrogen steam methane reformer, will be the 19th to be built through the Air Products and Technip-- Coflexip Group Alliance. Technip-Coflexip provides the design and construction expertise for steam methane reformers. Air Products provides the gas cleanup technology and, through its operating network, brings operational and engineering knowledge to "design in" high reliability and efficiency, and then operates and maintains the facilities for customers under long-term agreements.
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