Our Tonnage Gases customers use large quantities of our gases to make their processes more energy-efficient and reduce emissions. And under our Equipment and Energy segment, we provide a variety of cryogenic and gas processing equipment and technology solutions to meet customers’ clean energy needs.

Hydrogen: Converting More Crude Oil into Cleaner Fuels

Today, crude oil is heavier and increasingly contains more sulfur than in the 1990s. The world has steadily shifted to cleaner-burning fuels to significantly reduce the sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and other particulate matter. This has contributed to a significant reduction in smog and acid rain in our cities. Hydrogen used in the refining process greatly reduces the amounts of sulfur in ultralow sulfur transport fuels and has enabled new car emissions technology to work for 100,000+ miles, resulting in cleaner air for us to breathe in cities across the world. Importantly, modern refineries equipped with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient hydrogen processing units are able to convert even the heaviest and most sour crudes into larger volumes of cleaner-burning fuels and maximize the energy yield of a finite natural resource.

Gasification and Oxyfuel

In the face of rising oil, natural gas and electricity costs, gasification has become an increasingly attractive option for providing affordable, clean energy. We are one of the few companies in the world capable of supplying the extremely large volumes of oxygen used to gasify petroleum coke—a by-product of heavier, more sour crude processing. This technology produces a purer carbon dioxide stream that can be sequestered or used for potential enhanced oil recovery projects—all while eliminating traditional NOx emissions. In addition to solutions for new-build solid-fuel power plants, the large installed base of existing solid-fuel plants can be retrofitted with our oxyfuel combustion technology, enabling the promise of "greenhouse gas friendly" coal-fired power generation.

LNG

We provide solutions that enable greater use of LNG to meet the world’s energy needs with lower GHG emissions than equivalent oil- or coal-based energy sources. Application of our heat exchanger and process technology allows customers to reduce the capital investment required to bring stranded natural gas reserves to market. We also have partnered with LNG importers to recapture energy from the vaporization of LNG as it enters distribution pipeline systems and provide nitrogen diluent to adjust the heat content of the distributed gas, matching existing conventional natural gas supplies and uses.

Air Products supplied enabling equipment for this hydrogen fueling station in Sacramento, California. The station opened in April 2008 as part of a joint Sacramento Municipal Utility District, BP, Ford and U.S. Department of Energy project to demonstrate Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles and generation of hydrogen from renewable sources. The station generates hydrogen on-site, using power from the sun produced by a large solar panel array.

New Milestones Toward a Hydrogen Economy

We recently surpassed our 50,000th hydrogen filling milestone powering cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, automatic guided vehicles, and even submarines. As the global leader in hydrogen fueling infrastructure and technology, our know-how, equipment, and hydrogen continue to be used in approximately 2,000 fills per month. In all, we have placed more than 80 hydrogen fueling stations into service around the world, including Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.