LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa.,
May 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Air
Products (NYSE: APD) announced today it has signed agreements with
Valero Energy Corporation and Denbury Onshore, LLC to proceed with
a planned carbon capture and sequestration project in Port Arthur, Texas. The carbon dioxide
(CO2) to be captured by Air Products will be delivered by Air
Products via a pipeline owned by Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas to
Denbury Onshore beginning in late 2012. The CO2 will be used
by Denbury Onshore in enhanced oil recovery operations.
"The signing of these agreements is a key step in moving this
important project forward. Air Products has been an integral team
member of several carbon capture projects around the world. We are
a technology solutions provider and at Port Arthur we will have the opportunity to
demonstrate these capabilities at a large industrial scale," said
Wilbur Mok, vice president, North
America Tonnage Gases for Air Products. "We look forward to
working with Denbury and thank Valero for its cooperation and
support at the Port Arthur
location." Details on Air Products' CO2 purification technologies
can be found at www.airproducts.com/CO2_capture.
Air Products will design, construct and operate a
state-of-the-art system to capture CO2 from its two steam methane
reformers (SMR) located within the Valero Refinery in Port Arthur. The CO2 removal technology
will be retrofitted to the SMRs, which produce hydrogen to assist
in the making of cleaner burning transportation fuels by refinery
customers on Air Products' Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline network.
Approximately one million tons of CO2 annually will be
recovered, purified by Air Products, and delivered by Air Products
via a pipeline owned by Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas, LLC for
injection into Denbury Onshore's enhanced oil recovery projects in
Texas.
In June 2010, Air Products
announced it was selected to receive $253
million in Phase 2 funding from the United States Department
of Energy (DOE) through the National Energy Technology Laboratory
under the Industrial Carbon Capture and Sequestration (ICCS)
Program for this ICCS project. It has since received an
additional $30 million from DOE for
the project. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are
being used for final engineering, design, construction and project
operation through September 2015. Air
Products' project was the only industrial gas company led
undertaking selected by DOE and one of only three projects
receiving Phase 2 funds. DOE is providing a total of $284 million, including the funding utilized for
Phase 1, or 66 percent of the over $400
million project.
DOE said in its Phase 2 selection announcement that successful
development of advanced technologies and innovative concepts
reducing CO2 atmospheric emissions is a key objective of the Obama
Administration's efforts to help mitigate the effects of climate
change. The Phase 2 projects selected were aimed at testing
large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage (CCS), an
important step in moving CCS technology toward eventual commercial
deployment.
Air Products is currently working on several CCS projects around
the world for the power market. These projects include:
- The world's first full demonstration of oxyfuel carbon capture
and sequestration with Vattenfall AB, one of Europe's leading energy companies. Air
Products has installed its proprietary CO2 capture, purification,
and compression system at Vattenfall's research and development
facility in Schwarze Pumpe, Germany, which is viewed globally as the
preeminent CO2 oxyfuel project.
- In collaboration with the Alberta Energy Research Institute, a
study focusing on advanced CO2 capture technology for use with
gasification.
- In cooperation with DOE, Air Products designed and constructed
a CO2 purification system in support of an oxyfuel technology
development project at a boiler-simulation facility in Windsor, Connecticut.
- Air Products demonstrated oxyfuel sour compression technology
in experimental work carried out by Imperial College London with
flue gas from a 160 kilowatt coal-fired combustion installation at
Doosan Babcock's facility in Renfrew, Scotland, as part of the Oxycoal-UK
Project.
About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE: APD) serves customers in industrial, energy,
technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio
of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance
materials, and equipment and services. Founded in 1940,
Air Products has built leading positions in key growth markets
such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare
services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and
adhesives. The company is recognized for its innovative
culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety and the
environment. In fiscal 2010, Air Products had revenues of
$9 billion, operations in over 40
countries, and 18,300 employees around the globe. 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,
2010.
SOURCE Air Products