Air Products today broke ground on a new steam methane reformer (SMR) it will build, own and operate at Covestro’s Baytown, Texas, facility. The SMR will supply Covestro and other customers linked to Air Products’ Gulf Coast networks with hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Air Products estimates it will invest between $350 million and $400 million on the plant, which will start up in 2018.
“We have worked with Covestro for decades and look forward to being an important industrial gas supplier to them in Baytown for many years to come,” Corning Painter, executive vice president, Industrial Gases at Air Products, said in a news release. “The new SMR strengthens Air Products’ position in the Texas carbon monoxide market and enhances our well established hydrogen supply network.”
Located on land leased from Covestro, the SMR will produce about 125 million cubic feet per day of hydrogen and a “world-scale” supply of carbon monoxide.
Meanwhile, the shareholders of Airgas this week approved the company’s $10.3 billion acquisition of Air Liquide. The transaction was announced in November.
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