Air Products Launches Hydrogen Services Business to Support Customer-owned Hydrogen Plants

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to increasing customer demand, Air Products (NYSE: APD) 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. 

"Air Products has been reactively providing service on customer-owned hydrogen plants for more than 30 years," said Kevin Michaelis, vice president, Products and Technology–Industrial Gases, at Air Products. "We have seen such market pull that we are proactively packaging our technical knowledge and experience into an offering that can help customers run their hydrogen plants more effectively, as well as solve operational issues."

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.

"With our extensive operating experience, chances are very good that we have already seen and solved the issues that our customers are experiencing with their own hydrogen plants," said Scott Siegmund, global manager, Customer Plant Support, at Air Products. "Whether our customers need know-how, elbow grease, or both, engaging Air Products' Hydrogen Services Business allows them to focus on their area of expertise while we focus on ours—operational excellence in hydrogen production."

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. For more information about the range of services provided by Air Products' new Hydrogen Services Business, call 1-610-481-5319 or visit www.airproducts.com/plantservices.

About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading Industrial Gases company celebrating 75 years of operation. The company's core Industrial Gases business provides atmospheric and process gases and related equipment to manufacturing markets, including refining and petrochemical, metals, electronics, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment. The company's Materials Technologies business serves the semiconductor, polyurethanes, cleaning and coatings, and adhesives industries.

The company had fiscal 2015 sales of $9.9 billion and was ranked number 284 on the Fortune 500 annual list of public companies. Approximately 20,000 employees in 50 countries strive to make Air Products the world's safest and best performing Industrial Gases company, providing sustainable offerings and excellent service to all customers. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the Company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2015.

SOURCE Air Products

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