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In response to increasing customer demand, Air Products has launched a Hydrogen Services Business as part of the company's Customer Plant Support organization. The new Hydrogen Services Business formalizes something Air Products has been doing for decades—employing the company's operational excellence to help customers improve the reliability and productivity of their own hydrogen plants.
The new Hydrogen Services Business is already helping customers with inquiries, such as producing more or less hydrogen from steam methane reformers, planning SMR turnarounds, solving mechanical integrity issues, feedstock changes, pressure swing adsorber revamps, and improving energy efficiency.
For example, a refiner in North America who was experiencing operating issues with its SMR looked to Air Products for help to increase throughput and improve energy efficiency. Following a detailed plant assessment, operational changes performed on-site, and a performance test, Air Products helped the customer increase hydrogen capacity by 20% and improve hydrogen plant efficiency by more than 10%.
In Southeast Asia, a chemicals customer turned to Air Products for help in producing an additional 50% of hydrogen. Since a new plant was not cost effective or feasible due to time constraints, Air Products developed an innovative plant expansion scheme that was cost effective with a shortened schedule. The existing hydrogen plant reforming capacity and final hydrogen product purification sections were creatively de-bottlenecked and integrated without requiring an extended revamp of the reformer furnace or pressure swing adsorption unit, enabling the plant to successfully achieve its expansion capacity ahead of schedule.
In Europe, Air Products exceeded a refiner's expectations when they requested help to turndown hydrogen plant operation below the designed turndown rate due to market conditions. Air Products not only achieved the requested turndown operation of the hydrogen plant safely and reliably, but also converted the hydrogen plant feedstock from expensive butane to less costly natural gas. The feedstock conversion was simple and cost effective, requiring minimal retrofit equipment.
Air Products is the world's leading supplier of hydrogen. The company owns and operates over 100 hydrogen plants and produces nearly 3 billion standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen.
Keywords: Hydrogen, Operational Excellence, Steam Methane Reformers, Reformer Furnace, Energy Efficiency, ARC Advisory Group.