June 25, 2024 [H2 View]- Air Liquide will support ExxonMobil’s over 900,000 tonne per year blue hydrogen production project in Baytown, Texas, US.

Under an agreement, hydrogen produced by the Baytown facility will be transported through Air Liquide’s existing pipeline network along the US Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana.

The French industrial gas major will also build and operate four large modular air separation units (ASUs) to supply 9,000 tonnes of oxygen and 6,500 tonnes of nitrogen to the facility daily, which it said will cost around $850m.

Expected to start hydrogen production in 2028, the Baytown plant is planned to produce one billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day (around 930,000 tonnes per year), and more than one million tonnes of ammonia annually.

Volumes of Baytown hydrogen for transport in pipeline network have not been disclosed. However, it follows Japanese energy firm JERA announcing plans for a potential partnership to offtake around 500,000 tonnes of low-carbon ammonia per for Japanese demand.

Dan Amann, President of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said the partnership with Air Liquide would strengthen the project, after the company’s Chief Executive said the project could be scrapped if it wasn’t eligible for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives.

A US Department of Energy (DOE) report suggested most blue hydrogen would not meet emissions criteria to grant it access to tax credits offered by section 45V of the IRA.

The modelling for steam methane reforming with CCS estimated a lifecycle emissions intensity of 4.6kgCO2e/kg of hydrogen based on a 96.2% CO2 capture rate. Autothermal reforming (ATR) CCS was estimated at 5.7kgCO2e/kg of hydrogen at a 94.5% capture rate.

To be eligible for the lowest 45V PTC of $0.60/kg, hydrogen has to be produced with 2.5-4kg of CO2e/kg.

Exxon has selected Topsoe’s SynCOR™ carbon capture technology for the blue hydrogen plant, which it expects to capture more than 98% of CO2.

Final investment decision (FID) is anticipated later this year.