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    MNM Service What is it? Latest Edition Search Archive
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World Energy News From the Communications Centre Contributed by Aristide Mbiock IJmuiden, NL, 24th July 2000 - Ref.:0007art16 Air Liquide Expands Its Hydrogen Production and Distribution in South Texas Air Liquide Expands Its Hydrogen Production and Distribution in South Texas HOUSTON, July 17 -- Air Liquide America Corporation is pleased to announce the successful startup of a significant expansion to its hydrogen production facilities in Freeport, Texas. In addition, Air Liquide's existing hydrogen pipeline network from Sweeny, Texas, to Chocolate Bayou has significantly expanded to include new lines from Freeport to Texas City, Texas. Through this expansion, Air Liquide has begun supplying hydrogen to The Dow Chemical Company's Freeport plant, and Valero Refining Company's Texas City refinery. The expansion is the result of a combination of creative solutions by Air Liquide, Valero and Dow that will provide Air Liquide with an additional source of hydrogen, which its customers will utilize in enhancing the long-term performance of their plants. Through a long-term lease from Dow, Air Liquide now operates and maintains a hydrogen purification and compression system located inside Dow's Freeport plant. Air Liquide plans to further upgrade the unit this year. When the upgrade is complete, the combined hydrogen production from the new unit and Air Liquide's existing hydrogen/carbon monoxide plant in Freeport will be dramatically increased. By way of pipeline additions, acquisitions and long-term leases, the expanded hydrogen pipeline network and production capacity allows Air Liquide to begin supplying additional product to its existing customers in the Freeport area. "By combining our solutions-oriented approach with the strengths of our existing customer base and hydrogen pipeline network in the area, Air Liquide found a way to maximize the use of existing assets, and provide greater reliability to our hydrogen customers," stated Air Liquide's Antony Young, vice president, Market Groups N. America and Global Oil and Gas Market Group. "This enhanced reliability is inherent in a multi-sourced, multi-customer pipeline network, a concept Air Liquide first introduced to the Texas Gulf Coast and continues to cultivate," Young said. "Air Liquide's network gives us a dependable source of hydrogen while allowing us to stay focused on our core business, " said John Hohnholt, senior vice president of refining, economics and planning for Valero. "Ultimately, this translates to increased productivity and profitability for our Texas City operations. Expansion of our hydroprocessing capacity is a key strategy for Valero as we grow our production of ultra-low sulfur transportation fuels. Hydrogen has become a valuable resource from planned regulation changes in gasoline and on road diesel specifications." "Dow is excited to have the opportunity to work with Air Liquide to increase system reliability while maximizing sales of hydrogen-rich streams from our Texas Operations to Air Liquide's expanded network," said Jim Doubek, Dow's global business director for hydrogen. This project in Freeport is the latest of 14 hydrogen/syngas developments worldwide that Air Liquide has successfully started up since 1997, significantly increasing its total combined hydrogen and carbon monoxide production capacity. Bioenergy "at the heart" of oil alternatives The number of official calls for "alternative" energy research follow the crude-oil price charts: Up when oil is expensive, then they're forgotten when oil gets cheaper. The current testimony of the current Energy Secretary is no exception WASHINGTON -- Developing alternative energy sources such as biofuels and wind power is vital to the long-term stability of U.S. energy prices, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told farm state lawmakers on Thursday. According to Department of Agriculture estimates, bioenergy - essentially the addition of ethanol to gasoline - currently boosts U.S. gasoline supplies by roughly 1.2 percent. Last year, 58 U.S. plants produced 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol, with production expected to rise to 1.6 billion gallons this year. "If we are to see a meaningful decline in our future reliance on fossil fuels, if we are to lessen our vulnerability to interruptions in energy supply we need a cooperative national effort to develop a range of renewable energy sources," Richardson told members of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "Bioenergy can be at the heart of such an effort." This year, the Department of Energy awarded over $18 million in contracts to ethanol refineries. Federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks to "gasoline blenders" - plants where ethanol and gas are mixed - also topped 54 cents per gallon last year. Gasoline-ethanol refiners enjoy substantial support from both farm state lawmakers and environmental groups. While acknowledging that wind power is not widely utilized, Richardson also reminded lawmakers of the White House's Wind Powering America Initiative, which calls for over 5 percent of the nation's energy to be produced by wind power. British Gas deal will test Italian market British Gas was Monday, 17th July 2000, night set to mount an important test of the degree of liberalisation in Italy's energy market after winning a contract to supply 4bn cubic metres of gas to a consortium of Italian companies. In a new challenge to the grip which Snam, the Italian gas supply group, has on its home market, Gas Plus, a Milan-based consortium, announced it had signed an initial agreement with the UK group to supply their gas needs for the next two years. The agreement between BG and Gas Plus is the first time a non-Italian group has been selected to supply gas to clients in Italy. The announcement follows the implementation of Italy's gas liberalisation decree a few days ago. This stated that Snam, the ENI subsidiary which has hitherto had a virtual monopoly of gas supply in Italy, could distribute no more than 75 per cent of the country's annual needs. However, European gas companies have warned in recent weeks that it is still uncertain whether Italy's gas liberalisation will make agreements such as the one signed between BG and Gas Plus practicable. "The current legislation . . . contains many provisions to protect the incumbent national champion and preserve the status quo," wrote Keith Mackrell, one of BG's non-executive directors, recently. Up to 250 Italian companies were last night expected to sign up to the new Gas Plus consortium. Many of them are small distribution companies, looking for alternative wholesale supplies. However, BG officials said Snam's co-operation would now be needed for the new arrangement to be implemented. "Snam needs to come to the table with a commercial arrangement under which it releases gas to companies like us," said a BG official. "It would be expensive for us to ship gas over from the UK." BG claimed in a statement that many companies inside Italy saw it as a potential gas supplier. It said the companies inside the Gas Plus group "need a guarantee not only of the best opportunities which the Italian gas market liberalisation offers, but also of the highest level of security as far as supply is concerned". Alstom, Ballard plan 8 fuel cell units for Europe FRANKFURT - French engineers Alstom and fuel cell specialist Canada's Ballard will install eight fuel cell demonstration units in Europe over the next two years, the companies' joint venture said yesterday. The first of the eight 250 kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) units - at Berlin-based utility Bewag's Treptow heating plant site - started its five years of operation in June. The second unit will be installed later in the year for Basel-based Swiss utility EBM. Energy companies are increasingly looking to energy-efficient fuel cells as part of a trend to decentralise electricity production from traditional power stations. Fuel cells take up less space than power plants and produce no harmful emissions, enabling smaller units to be set up near residential consumer sites. "Fuel cells operate at high efficiencies and ...combined with renewable energy forms, lay the foundation for a future hydrogen-based energy industry," the head of the Berlin project, Bewag's Martin Pokojski, told Reuters. Alstom and Ballard formed their German joint venture Alstom-Ballard AG in 1998. The company said it will also install systems for the Belgian consortium Promocell and the Dutch utility Nuon. Alstom-Ballard's key account manager Ralf Keitil declined to reveal the names of the remaining four companies as discussions were not yet concluded. The Berlin unit is the world's second in the 250 kW class after an identical unit installed for Cynergy in Indiana. The U.S. unit also started operating this year.
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