Air Products to create Europe's largest blue hydrogen plant at Rotterdam

Air Products announced it will build a carbon capture and carbon dioxide (CO2) treatment facility at its existing hydrogen production plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The facility is expected to come on-stream in 2026, and the resulting "blue" hydrogen will be sold to ExxonMobil's Rotterdam refinery and other customers via Air Products' hydrogen pipeline network. Once operational, the project will make Air Products' Rotterdam hydrogen plant the largest blue hydrogen plant in Europe.

In a release, Air Products announced that its hydrogen plant and ExxonMobil's Rotterdam refinery will be connected to the Porthos system, a consortium developing the first large-scale CO2 storage system in the Netherlands. Porthos will transport the captured CO2, along with CO2 from other industry in the port of Rotterdam, to depleted gas fields in the North Sea, approximately 20 km off the coast, where it will be permanently stored at a depth of more than 3 km beneath the seabed.

Accessing the Porthos system will allow Air Products to more than halve its CO2 emissions in the port of Rotterdam, representing a substantial step in reducing Air Products' direct emissions in the short term and helping the company contribute to meeting Dutch National Climate Agreement targets.

"Air Products has been actively present and investing in Rotterdam for decades," Chief Operating Officer Dr. Samir J Serhan commented on the decision. "Industrial companies here are continually looking for ways to realize synergies, create economies of scale, drive energy efficiencies and ultimately decarbonise. This project fulfils that demand. By sequestering CO2 through Porthos and bringing additional blue hydrogen to ExxonMobil and other customers, we can help generate a cleaner future."

Edward Dekker Kleijn, Rotterdam Site Manager for ExxonMobil, said in a statement: "ExxonMobil aims to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from its operated assets by 2050 and we've taken a comprehensive approach to create emission-reduction roadmaps for each of our facilities."

"Carbon Capture and Storage is one of the critical technologies required to achieve the climate goals. This project is a great example of how industry works together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the Rotterdam port area," he added.