Air Products to Build Second Liquid Hydrogen Production Facility in California

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD), the leading global hydrogen provider, today announced plans to build a second liquid hydrogen production facility in California to meet increasing product demand from several customer markets, including the growing fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCV) in the state. Project development work is already underway with an anticipated facility onstream during the first quarter of 2021.

"Current customer demand for liquid hydrogen is driving the need for this new investment as we are experiencing growth from many traditional market segments, for which a reliable source of this product is vitally important. Additionally, this new capacity will be available for the steadily increasing demand from hydrogen fuel cell vehicles," said Marie Ffolkes, president, Americas at Air Products.

Liquified hydrogen is delivered in trailers to customers in industries including: electronics, chemical and petrochemical, metals, material handling, float glass, edible fats and oils, and utilities, as well as to hydrogen fueling stations where it is re-gasified for fueling hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles.

This is the second new liquid hydrogen plant in the United States (U.S.) Air Products has announced in the past few months.  In September 2018, Air Products announced plans to build a new liquid hydrogen plant at its La Porte, Texas facility which will be supplied hydrogen from Air Products' extensive Gulf Coast pipeline network.  The La Porte project is also anticipated to be onstream in 2021. Air Products has existing liquid hydrogen production assets operating in New Orleans, Louisiana and Sacramento, California in the U.S.; Sarnia, Ontario, Canada; and Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

"We are committed to meeting the product needs of our customer base and as more and more hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are driven on the roads and highways of California, we will continue to evaluate additional capacity needs and make investments to meet demand," said Ffolkes.

Recent evidence of this commitment to the reliable supply of hydrogen for the California FCV market includes a newly commissioned expansion doubling the size of Air Products' Wilmington hydrogen transfill system, and the commissioning of new hydrogen transfill systems in Long Beach and Santa Clara for vehicle fueling, Ffolkes noted.  Air Products has also increased the number of dual-phase trailers, capable of both transporting and off-loading hydrogen to a fueling station, transfill station or customer supply tank. All these investments increase hydrogen supply chain reliability.  In addition, Air Products is in the evaluation phase of adding further renewable hydrogen capacity from multiple sources in preparation for California's increased FCV demand.  

Air Products, the leading global supplier of hydrogen to refineries to assist in producing cleaner burning transportation fuels, has vast experience in the hydrogen fueling industry. In fact, several sites today for certain hydrogen fueling applications are fueling at rates of over 75,000 refills per year. Use of the company's fueling technology is increasing and is used in over 1,500,000 hydrogen fills per year. The company has been involved in over 250 hydrogen fueling projects in the United States and 20 countries worldwide. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment, and even submarines have been fueled with trend-setting Air Products' SmartFuel^® technologies. 

Air Products has more than 60 years of hydrogen experience and an extensive patent portfolio in hydrogen dispensing technology. Air Products provides liquid and gaseous hydrogen and a variety of enabling devices and protocols for fuel dispensing at varied pressures. Hydrogen for these stations can be delivered to a site via truck or pipeline, produced by natural gas reformation, biomass conversion, or by electrolysis, including electrolysis that is solar and wind driven.

About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading Industrial Gases company in operation for over 75 years. The Company provides industrial gases and related equipment to dozens of industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment.

The Company had fiscal 2018 sales of $8.9 billion from operations in 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $35 billion. Approximately 16,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from diverse backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. 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, 2018.

SOURCE Air Products

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