State Secretary Atsma Inaugurates World-scale Hydrogen Plant in Rotterdam Botlek

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Air Products and ExxonMobil celebrated the start-up of a new world-scale hydrogen production plant in Rotterdam. Joop Atsma, State Secretary for Infrastructure and the Environment, Mayor Aboutaleb of Rotterdam and Hans Smits, CEO Port of Rotterdam, participated in the official ceremony. Integrating ExxonMobil's refinery with Air Products new hydrogen plant will lead to a 15% improvement in energy efficiency and reduce related CO2 emissions by 200,000 tons per year.

"Key to achieving the delivery of a world-class plant of this size and scope within such an aggressive timetable was the expertise and close collaboration of all those involved in the project. The Dutch government and local authorities also played an important role in helping us to deliver a plant that, by design, minimizes the loss of heat to the environment and reduces the natural gas requirement," said Jeff Byrne, Air Products' global vice president and general manager - Tonnage Gases. "As a location, the ExxonMobil Botlek site offers significant synergy in terms of our products and feedstock flow. It also allows us to connect the new plant into our extensive Rotterdam hydrogen pipeline network, which supplies hydrogen to several other customers in the region."

State Secretary Atsma said in his speech that the importance of the new plant should not be underestimated. "We need plants like this one nationally as well as internationally to achieve our European mid-term and long term environmental ambitions. Today, Air Products and ExxonMobil show that by a targeted investment and integration of industrial processes, a substantial energy saving and CO2 reduction are being achieved.''

The Air Products plant uses ExxonMobil refinery's excess gas to produce hydrogen. The refinery uses hydrogen for the desulphurization of oil products and in the manufacture of petrochemicals. The new plant uses the most advanced processes and technologies which makes the hydrogen production considerably more efficient than the previous hydrogen supply to the refinery. The hydrogen plant also delivers steam to the refinery. The synergy in the production processes of the two plants will improve overall energy efficiency by more than 15%.

"Improving energy efficiency is the best way to reduce energy consumption and related CO2 emissions," says Andrew Madden, ExxonMobil Refinery Manager. "Through projects such as this one refineries can continue to provide oil products economically while continuing to reduce their environmental footprint. The Rotterdam refinery and petrochemical complex play an important role in our global company and the integration with the hydrogen plant demonstrates ExxonMobil's commitment to disciplined investments in this region."

Air Products, in conjunction with Technip - its main contractor on the project - began construction of the new hydrogen plant in June 2010. Maria van der Hoeven, Minister of Economic Affairs at that time, officially started the ground breaking. The start-up of the new hydrogen plant took place in December 2011. It took approximately one million man-hours to build the plant. The construction was completed with more than 450 people working at the site at one time, with eight different languages spoken. Although there were challenging circumstances, the worker's safety was managed proactively and successfully.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) provides atmospheric, process and specialty gases; performance materials; equipment; and technology. For over 70 years, the company has enabled customers to become more productive, energy efficient and sustainable. More than 18,000 employees in over 40 countries supply innovative solutions to the energy, environment and emerging markets. These include semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, coal gasification, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. In fiscal 2011, Air Products had sales of $10.1 billion. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

In the Netherlands, Air Products has been active in Rotterdam since 1970 with production facilities in Botlek, Pernis and Europoort. The company also has offices in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen and Terneuzen.

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil is the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company and a global leader in the petrochemical industry, with activities in almost every country. In the Netherlands, ExxonMobil has a refinery, several chemical plants, a lube oil blending plant and a network of service stations. Also, ExxonMobil is co-owner of the Rotterdam-Antwerp Pipeline, TEAM Terminal and MOT. ExxonMobil has a significant interest in the Dutch gas business through its participation in NAM and GasTerra. For more information, visit www.exxonmobil.com.

SOURCE Air Products