Topsoe, a Danish company that specialises in carbon emission reduction technologies, and ExxonMobil, a US energy and petrochemical company, have signed an agreement under which Topsoe will deliver its hydrogen SynCOR™ technology to ExxonMobil’s planned low-carbon hydrogen production facility in Baytown, Texas.
According to Topsoe, its SynCOR™ hydrogen technology will enable ExxonMobil to produce hydrogen at a mega-scale as well as capture and store more than 98% of its associated CO2 emissions, or around 7 million metric tonnes per year.
SynCOR™ is a technology based on advanced auto thermal reforming principles, and according to Topsoe, it is often the preferred technology for mega-scale hydrogen production due to its maturity and low capital and operating costs.
To deliver an integrated solution for the Baytown facility, Topsoe has teamed up with carbon capture technology licensor, Honeywell UOP, which will provide its carbon capture technology for the facility.
As a technology integrator, Topsoe has guaranteed the carbon intensity of the integrated low-carbon facility, including hydrogen production and carbon capture.
Elena Scaltritti, CCO of Topsoe, said: “We are very excited to support ExxonMobil with our unique technology. Once complete, this ambitious project will result in hydrogen that can be used for low-carbon fuels and chemicals to help meet global net-zero targets. We are eager to start working with ExxonMobil and to enable the capturing of massive volumes of CO2 emissions from the hydrogen production.”
Dan Ammann, President of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said: “ExxonMobil’s investment in large-scale low-carbon hydrogen production shows our commitment to supporting customers in their decarbonisation efforts and to reducing emissions at our own operations. The scale of this project is expected to enable up to a 30% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from our Baytown facility by switching from natural gas as a fuel source to low-carbon hydrogen.”
The facility, to be built at ExxonMobil’s integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown at Houston, Texas, has targeted production of 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day, making it the largest low-carbon hydrogen project in the world, at planned start-up in 2027-2028.
It is expected to deliver low-carbon fuel to the Baytown olefins plant and other Houston-area facilities. To note, replacing natural gas with hydrogen at the Baytown olefins plant could reduce the integrated complex’s CO2 emissions by up to 30%.
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