Danbury-based Praxair Inc., one of the largest industrial gases companies in the world with 2012 sales of $11 billion, recently opened the valves at its 135-million-standard-cubic-feet-per-day (scfd) hydrogen plant serving the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, and other customers.
The new Port Arthur “steam methane reformer” is connected to Praxair”™s existing 750 million scfd Gulf Coast pipeline network. The network includes a 2.5 billion-standard-cubic-foot, high-purity hydrogen storage cavern that provides additional supply for Praxair customers along the pipeline. The U.S. Gulf Coast is the largest oil refining and petrochemical producing region in the world.
The new plant houses the largest steam methane reformer Praxair has built to date to supply hydrogen and up to 450,000 pounds per hour of steam to Valero”™s new 57,000 barrels-per-day hydrocracker, which breaks down crude oil molecularly into more usable component liquids.
Praxair operates more than 50 hydrogen production facilities and seven hydrogen pipeline systems globally.
