This week, listed industrial gases supplier Air Products, together with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced a $4.5 billion blue hydrogen and clean energy complex to be built in Louisiana that its backers say will make the state a leader in the U.S. clean energy transition.
Air Products will build, own and operate the complex, which will produce over 750 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of blue hydrogen in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. “Blue” hydrogen is thusly named because it uses hydrocarbons as a feedstock, with carbon dioxide (CO2) generated in the production process captured for permanent sequestration.
According to the company, the project will create 170 permanent jobs with a total annual payroll of $15.9 million and more than 2,000 construction jobs over three years. It represents Air Products’s largest-ever investment in the U.S.
A portion of the blue hydrogen will be compressed and supplied to end customers by Air Products’ U.S. Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network. The network is the largest hydrogen pipeline system in the world, stretching more than 700-miles from Galveston Bay in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana. Today, this U.S. Gulf Coast pipeline network can supply customers with more than 1.6 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day from approximately 25 production facilities, including blue hydrogen from Air Products’ Port Arthur, Texas facility. The Port Arthur facility has captured approximately one million tons of CO2 annually since 2013, with the CO2 transported via pipeline and utilized for enhanced oil recovery operations.
The rest of the blue hydrogen from the new Ascension Parish facility will be used to make blue ammonia that will be transported around the world and converted back to blue hydrogen for transportation and other markets.
The project, which is expected to be operational in 2026, will also feature the world’s largest instance of CO2 capture for permanent sequestration and produce only environmentally friendly blue products.
“This is a major industrial investment that will create quality manufacturing jobs while limiting environmental impacts, a goal envisioned by my Climate Initiatives Task Force,” Gov. Edwards said. “Carbon capture and sequestration are important to Louisiana’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while maintaining jobs and growing our manufacturing base. This project is a clear demonstration of our ability to grow the Louisiana economy while lowering the carbon footprint of industry.”
“Air Products is excited to announce this investment in clean energy with the Governor of Louisiana,” Air Products CEO Seifi Ghasemi said. “This landmark megaproject will not only create jobs but make Louisiana and Ascension Parish leaders in the U.S. clean energy transition. Air Products is fully invested in and committed to projects that leverage our build-own-operate, technology, financial, and sustainability capabilities, and this project brings all of those core strengths together. We are very excited about the model this project represents in the broader energy transition and thank the state of Louisiana for its collaboration on the pore space to safely and permanently sequester the captured CO2. We look forward to building on our long partnership with Louisiana and constructing a facility that will serve as a leading example of clean energy production around the globe.”
Approximately 95 percent of the CO2 generated at the facility will be captured, compressed and transported by pipeline to a number of inland sequestration sites located along a pipeline corridor extending up to 35 miles to the east of the new production facility. Air Products says over five million metric tons per year (MTPY) of CO2 will be permanently sequestered in geologic pore space secured from the State of Louisiana approximately one mile beneath the surface. Air Products has already received approval from the State Mineral and Energy Board, which is part of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, for the permanent sequestration of the CO2.
Air Products will provide all of the complex’s products ― blue hydrogen and co-products (liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen and liquid argon) ― to customers in the U.S. and around the world.
“Ascension Parish is committed to being a leader in the new clean energy economy and values our continued relationship with Air Products,” Ascension Parish President Clint Cointment said. “We appreciate their investment in industrial gas production using carbon capture and sequestration technology. This project will not only make a significant investment in our parish but will also add high-quality employment opportunities for the residents in our community.”
“The development of this large-scale clean hydrogen project highlights our strategic geographic assets as we position ourselves to become the clean energy capital of the U.S. Gulf Coast,” said Kate MacArthur, president and CEO of the Ascension Economic Development Corp. “Investments from companies like Air Products are essential to reducing carbon pollution in a major and sustainable way.”
“The Capital Region is at the leading edge of the transitional energy sector, and Air Products’ decision to build one of the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen projects here underscores that the talent, infrastructure, and business climate is turn-key for clean energy investments of a global scale,” said Adam Knapp, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. “We congratulate our partners in Ascension Parish and look forward to working together to support Air Products.”
In June of this year, Air Products announced plans to build a multi-billion-dollar net-zero hydrogen energy complex in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, following a previous announcement of its stake in a green ammonia production facility joint venture with NEOM, Saudi Arabia for the production and export of carbon-free hydrogen to global markets.
“We continue to make significant investments as the world leader in the production and supply of hydrogen,” said Air Products’ Ghasemi. “In addition to our leadership in gray hydrogen, our Canada project and this Louisiana project make us the leader in blue hydrogen. We also will be the world leader in the production and supply of green, carbon-free hydrogen when the NEOM Project comes onstream. The energy transition will occur in stages, and the megaproject we are announcing today in Louisiana will help the State meet its ambitious goals while providing new sources of blue products for customers in the U.S. and around the globe,” he added.
