Nov 9 2010
Air Products (NYSE: APD), the leading global hydrogen provider, and its subsidiary Air Products Canada Ltd. today announced that its Heartland Hydrogen Pipeline in Alberta, Canada has been commercialized and is supplying customers linked to the 30-mile pipeline with product.
Air Products also announced two additional long-term supply contracts off the pipeline with Dow Chemical Canada ULC and Evonik Degussa Canada Inc.
“We’re very pleased that this pipeline is onstream and we have an established source of feed for the Heartland region’s increasing industrial demand for hydrogen. Hydrogen is a major feedstock for bitumen upgrading and refining and is very important in enabling the production of cleaner burning transportation fuels. We located the pipeline in this region to support the continued operation and development of multiple industries in the area,” said Steve Losby, general manager–Canada at Air Products. “We are very pleased to add both Dow and Evonik Degussa to the companies being supplied from this hydrogen pipeline.”
The pipeline is fed by Air Products’ two hydrogen production facilities in Strathcona County near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The hydrogen will be used by Dow at its polyethylene operations in Fort Saskatchewan, while Evonik Degussa will use the hydrogen feed at its hydrogen peroxide facility in Gibbons, Alberta. In March 2010, Air Products had announced long-term hydrogen supply contracts via pipeline with Shell Canada Energy, Sherritt International Corporation, and Williams Energy (Canada) Inc.
Additionally, Losby noted Air Products took great care to construct the pipeline in the most environmentally responsible manner. “The hydrogen system followed existing pipelines to minimize the need for environmental disturbances for approximately 95 percent of its path. Where we had to alter the route, we undertook stringent environmental assessments and made careful selections. The result is a hydrogen pipeline that is able to meet the current and future needs of multiple industries in the area,” he said. Air Products received approval in 2009 from the Alberta Energy Resource Conservation Board for the project serving refiners, upgraders, chemical processors and other industries.
Globally, Air Products’ hydrogen pipeline operational expertise is evidenced by 40 years of safe operation of its network of systems. Pipelines offer a safe, robust and reliable supply of hydrogen to the refinery and petrochemical industry around the world, and Air Products’ hydrogen pipeline design and operations meet or exceed government requirements. In addition to this pipeline in the Alberta Industrial Heartland, Air Products also has a hydrogen pipeline in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, and operates the largest hydrogen pipeline network in the United States’ Gulf Coast, as well as pipeline systems in California in the U.S. and in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.