LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Air
Products (NYSE: APD) and Huntsman jointly gathered today for a groundbreaking ceremony held at the site of what will be Air
Products' new steam methane reformer (SMR) and cold box in Geismar, Louisiana. Air Products will
build, own and operate the facility under a long-term agreement and industrial gases including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen and steam will be produced
and supplied to Huntsman's neighboring Geismar operations. The new facility is to be
commercially onstream in early 2020.
"It is always exciting to break ground for a new world-scale facility, and especially to do so at a location where it will
primarily serve a long-standing customer. We have supplied Huntsman with industrial gases at other facilities where they
have operations and we are pleased to expand our relationship through this new supply supporting Huntsman at Geismar. The
Air Products plant will be state-of-the-art in terms of high reliability and sustainability, with enhanced energy efficiency and
reduced emissions," said Corning Painter,
executive vice president – Industrial Gases at Air Products.
Tony Hankins, president of Huntsman Polyurethanes said, "The reliability and environmental
performance of the new industrial gases plant from Air Products will be an important foundation in supporting the delivery of our
North American Polyurethanes strategy. As a business, we are focused on rapidly building our downstream footprint and
capabilities. This strategic shift can only be achieved with a strong upstream asset position at our Geismar MDI facility. We
look forward to the successful commissioning of the Air Products plant in early 2020."
The new facility, to be located on land leased from Huntsman, will produce approximately 6.5 million standard cubic feet per
day (MMSCFD) of CO, 50 MMSCFD of hydrogen, and up to 50,000 pounds per hour of steam. There is also the ability for the
facility to be expanded to increase CO in the future to support additional growth.
Beyond supply to Huntsman's production facility in Geismar, Air Products' new plant will also
be connected to its Gulf
Coast hydrogen pipeline and network system (GCP). Dedicated in 2012, the 600-mile pipeline span is the world's largest
hydrogen plant and pipeline network system. The GCP stretches from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and supplies customers with over 1.4
billion feet of hydrogen per day from 22 hydrogen production facilities.
"We recently announced increased hydrogen capacity to the Gulf Coast pipeline for customers with an onstream project in
Texas, and now we will again have added enhanced and reliable hydrogen supply to the pipeline
network when this Geismar facility is placed onstream. We continually seek additional
sources of hydrogen to add product supply capacity to our customers along our well-established pipeline network system along the
Gulf Coast," said Painter.
About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE:APD) is a world-leading
Industrial Gases company in operation for over 75 years. 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 had fiscal 2017 sales of $8.2 billion from continuing operations in 50 countries and
has a current market capitalization of about $35 billion. Approximately 15,000 passionate, talented
and committed employees from a diversity of 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.
About Huntsman
Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals
with 2017 revenues of approximately $8 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and
are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more
than 75 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 10,000 associates
within our four distinct business divisions. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at
www.huntsman.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,
2017.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Downloadable photos from today's event are available in Air Products' online News Center.
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SOURCE Air Products