APD to build hydrogen refueling station in Alberta
Air Products and Chemicals (APD) recently announced intentions to construct a multi-modal hydrogen refueling station near its new net-zero hydrogen energy complex in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The hydrogen refueling station will be Air Products’ first in Canada. It will also be Alberta’s first commercial-scale hydrogen refueling station.
This station is the next stage in Air Products’ commitment to Edmonton and the province of Alberta. It will serve as a model that can be developed across Canada to foster the hydrogen economy, reduce emissions and support Canada in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The hydrogen refueling station is partially funded by Natural Resources Canada’s Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program.
The new station will have two hydrogen refueling lanes with dispensers for heavy-duty vehicles, such as commercial and municipal trucks, alongside Air Products’ own truck fleet, with a filling time comparable to conventionally fueled heavy-duty trucks.
The station will also feature two spots for light-duty hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to refuel. The advanced, high-capacity, high-efficiency station will be available to retail consumers and is slated to open in early 2025. The station will have a daily capacity of up to six tons of hydrogen using registered compression technology. It will be located in Northeast Edmonton near Air Products’ transformative new net-zero hydrogen energy complex.
The facility will make use of cutting-edge process technology that makes it possible to effectively capture more than 90% of carbon emissions for permanent sequestration safely underground. Additionally, the project includes a power generation unit that runs entirely on hydrogen to avoid the indirect emissions linked to using grid electricity. This enormous unit powers the manufacturing complex and provides clean energy to the Alberta grid.
With the assistance of innovative engineering, the complex will also be connected with Imperial Oil Limited’s new facility for producing renewable diesel locally. Using an approach that produces a biogenic renewable off-gas (ROG) by-product, Imperial will produce renewable diesel from locally obtained non-petroleum feedstocks. This ROG can substitute natural gas and improve the overall carbon emissions profile by being utilized as a feedstock in the Air Products hydrogen complex. The remaining 10% required to reach net-zero at the new hydrogen production facility is more than offset by the use of a renewable feedstock and power export.
In order to aid customers in the refining and petrochemical industries in lowering the carbon intensity of their operations and products, the net-zero facility will connect to Air Products’ current 55-kilometer pipeline network in the Alberta Heartland.
Air Products, one of the major players in the chemicals space, along with Eastman Chemical Company EMN, Celanese Corporation CE and PPG Industries, Inc. PPG, currently operates three hydrogen production facilities in Alberta. It also has a hydrogen production facility, a 30-kilometer pipeline network and a liquefaction facility in Sarnia, Ontario.
