LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa.,
May 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In
response to increasing customer demand, Air Products (NYSE: APD)
has launched a Hydrogen Services Business as part of the company's
Customer Plant Support organization. The new Hydrogen Services
Business formalizes something Air Products has been doing for
decades—employing the company's operational excellence to help
customers improve the reliability and productivity of their own
hydrogen plants.
"Air Products has been reactively providing service on
customer-owned hydrogen plants for more than 30 years," said
Kevin Michaelis, vice president,
Products and Technology–Industrial Gases, at Air Products. "We have
seen such market pull that we are proactively packaging our
technical knowledge and experience into an offering that can help
customers run their hydrogen plants more effectively, as well as
solve operational issues."
The new Hydrogen Services Business is already helping customers
with inquiries such as producing more or less hydrogen from steam
methane reformers, planning SMR turnarounds, solving mechanical
integrity issues, feedstock changes, pressure swing adsorber
revamps, and improving energy efficiency.
"With our extensive operating experience, chances are very good
that we have already seen and solved the issues that our customers
are experiencing with their own hydrogen plants," said Scott Siegmund, global manager, Customer Plant
Support, at Air Products. "Whether our customers need know-how,
elbow grease, or both, engaging Air Products' Hydrogen Services
Business allows them to focus on their area of expertise while we
focus on ours—operational excellence in hydrogen production."
For example, a refiner in North
America who was experiencing operating issues with its SMR
looked to Air Products for help to increase throughput and improve
energy efficiency. Following a detailed plant assessment,
operational changes performed on-site, and a performance test, Air
Products helped the customer increase hydrogen capacity by 20% and
improve hydrogen plant efficiency by more than 10%.
In Southeast Asia, a chemicals
customer turned to Air Products for help in producing an additional
50% of hydrogen. Since a new plant was not cost effective or
feasible due to time constraints, Air Products developed an
innovative plant expansion scheme that was cost effective with a
shortened schedule. The existing hydrogen plant reforming capacity
and final hydrogen product purification sections were creatively
de-bottlenecked and integrated without requiring an extended revamp
of the reformer furnace or pressure swing adsorption unit, enabling
the plant to successfully achieve its expansion capacity ahead of
schedule.
In Europe, Air Products
exceeded a refiner's expectations when they requested help to
turndown hydrogen plant operation below the designed turndown rate
due to market conditions. Air Products not only achieved the
requested turndown operation of the hydrogen plant safely and
reliably, but also converted the hydrogen plant feedstock from
expensive butane to less costly natural gas. The feedstock
conversion was simple and cost effective, requiring minimal
retrofit equipment.
Air Products is the world's leading supplier of hydrogen. The
company owns and operates over 100 hydrogen plants and produces
nearly 3 billion standard cubic feet per day of hydrogen. For more
information about the range of services provided by Air Products'
new Hydrogen Services Business, call 1-610-481-5319 or visit
www.airproducts.com/plantservices.
About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading Industrial Gases
company celebrating 75 years of operation. 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's Materials
Technologies business serves the semiconductor, polyurethanes,
cleaning and coatings, and adhesives industries.
The company had fiscal 2015 sales of $9.9
billion and was ranked number 284 on the Fortune 500 annual
list of public companies. Approximately 20,000 employees in 50
countries strive to make Air Products the world's safest and best
performing Industrial Gases company, providing sustainable
offerings and excellent service to all customers. 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,
2015.
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SOURCE Air Products