ExxonMobil has outlined proposals to develop a blue hydrogen production facility at its Baytown refinery in Texas in what would be the US oil major’s first large-scale deployment of the technology.

The plant would produce up to 1bn ft³/d of hydrogen to feed the Baytown olefins facility. The carbon capture infrastructure for the project would have the capacity to transport and store up to 10mn t/yr CO₂, more than doubling ExxonMobil’s capacity and potentially capturing about 95pc of the CO₂ from the blue hydrogen process.

ExxonMobil expects to make FID in 2-3 years.

Using hydrogen as a fuel at the Baytown olefins plant could reduce the complex’s scope one and two emissions by up to 30pc, the company says.

It adds that any surplus hydrogen and CO₂ storage capacity would be made available to nearby industry. “The project would form ExxonMobil’s initial contribution to a broad, cross-industry effort to establish a Houston carbon capture and storage [CCS] hub with an initial target of about 50mn t/yr CO₂ by 2030 and 100 mn t/yr by 2040,” the company says.

1bn ft³/d – Project’s potential hydrogen production

In February, ExxonMobil took FID on a $400mn expansion of CCS capacity at its LaBarge, Wyoming, facility. The expansion is designed to raise capacity by about 1.2mn t/yr, potentially from 2025.

Over the next six years, the company plans to invest more than $15bn on “lower-emission initiatives” and says it could increase investments with advancements in policy and technology. “ExxonMobil continues to support an explicit price on carbon to establish consistent incentives and encourage investments,” the company says.

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Author: Stuart Penson