Air Products to build Europe’s largest blue hydrogen plant

Air Products (APD) will build, own and operate a state-of-the-art carbon capture and carbon dioxid treatment facility at its existing hydrogen production plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The facility is expected to be on-stream in 2026, and the resulting “blue” hydrogen product to serve ExxonMobil’s (XOM) Rotterdam refinery and additional customers via Air Products’ hydrogen pipeline network system. This will be the largest blue hydrogen plant in Europe once operational. The carbon capture retrofit will capture CO2 from Air Products’ existing hydrogen plant and ExxonMobil’s Rotterdam refinery. The plant will be connected to the Porthos system, a consortium developing the first large-scale CO2 transport and storage system in the Netherlands which recently reached final investment decision approval. Along with CO2 from other industry in the port of Rotterdam, the captured CO2 will be transported to depleted gas fields in the North Sea, approximately 20 kilometers off the coast, where it will be permanently stored at a depth of more than three kilometers beneath the seabed. Porthos allows Air Products to more than halve its CO2 emissions in the port of Rotterdam. This represents a substantial step for reducing Air Products’ direct emissions in the short term and contributes to meeting the Dutch National Climate Agreement targets. At the same time, Air Products is working hard to further decarbonise its own activities and those of its customers by realising plans to make green hydrogen available from imported renewable energy in the port of Rotterdam. The project is being undertaken as part of long-term agreements with ExxonMobil and the Dutch State. Blue hydrogen from Air Products’ hydrogen production plant will help customers in industry and mobility transition, whilst also creating and retaining jobs in an important industrial area.