Linde to invest $1.8bn in new blue hydrogen plant in Texas, with start-up in 2025
All the H2 will be supplied to Dutch fertiliser maker OCI to produce 1.1 million tonnes of blue ammonia per year
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The UK-headquartered company will build, own and operate the facility in Beaumont, Texas, which will produce blue hydrogen from natural gas using the autothermal reforming (ATR) process, paired with carbon capture and storage (CCS).
OCI announced its $1bn blue ammonia facility in September last year, saying at the time: “This project has been designed to transition from blue to green ammonia production in the future as green hydrogen becomes available at larger scale.”
Linde said in a statement that in addition to supplying OCI, that it will “also use its extensive pipeline network to provide clean hydrogen to existing and new customers in the US Gulf Coast, addressing the increasing demand from companies to decarbonise their operations”.
Both Linde and OCI expect their parts of the project to start up in 2025.
The ATR process has been selected by Linde because it enables higher levels of carbon capture than those possible using the traditional steam methane reforming (SMR) method, which produces most of the (dirty) hydrogen in the world today.
“With Linde’s track record in successfully executing complex projects, its extensive pipeline network, and support from the US Inflation Reduction Act, the company is well positioned to secure many more clean energy projects,” said Linde CEO Sanjiv Lamba.
“The Beaumont facility will allow us to build and strengthen our world-leading blue ammonia and clean fuels platform, supplying both the US and export markets with blue ammonia, an ideal solution to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors such as agriculture, power and marine fuels at a competitive cost,” said OCI CEO Ahmed El-Hoshy.
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