June 12, 2023 • Paul Rodden • Season: 2023 • Episode: 222
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 222, ExxonMobil has two massive CCUS announcements, and we have another indicator that hydrogen is ready to go for personal transportation. I’ll cover all of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Paul Rodden
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Transcript:
ExxonMobil has two massive CCUS announcements, and we have another indicator that hydrogen is ready to go for personal transportation. I’ll cover all of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
So the big questions in the energy industry today are, how is hydrogen the primary driving force behind the evolution of energy? Where’s capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally? And where are the best investment opportunities for early adopters who recognize the importance of hydrogen? I will address the critical issues and give you the information you need to deploy capital. Those are the questions that will unlock the potential of hydrogen and this podcast we’ll give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
In a press release on April 4, Linde, signed agreement with ExxonMobil for carbon dioxide offtake Lindy, announced on April 4, that it has signed a long term agreement with ExxonMobil for the offtake of carbon dioxide associated with Linde’s new clean hydrogen production in Beaumont, Texas. Linde previously announced that it will build own and operate an onsite complex to supply clean hydrogen and nitrogen to OCI Global’s new world scale blue ammonia plant Linde new facility is expected to start up in 2025. It will be integrated into Linde extensive US Gulf Coast industrial gas infrastructure. It will also supply clean hydrogen to other new and existing offtakers across the network. Under the terms of the agreement, ExxonMobil will transport and permanently store up to 2.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year from Linde’s hydrogen production facility equivalent to the emissions from nearly half a million cars per year.
In a quote from Dan Yankowski, Senior Vice President of Americas at Linde clean hydrogen is a clean enabler of industries transition to a low carbon economy. Working with ExxonMobil as the carbon dioxide off taker at our Beaumont project supports Linde strategy to decarbonize customer processes, while safely and reliably supplying low carbon hydrogen at scale. And in a quote from Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions. ExxonMobil’s agreement with Linde underscores our growing momentum and providing industrial customers with large scale solutions to sequester carbon dioxide emissions. Linde’s Beaumont clean hydrogen project is another significant step towards achieving Heavy Industries, decarbonisation and net zero goals. As one of the world’s leading industrial gases and engineering companies. Linde is playing a key role in clean energy transition The company is actively supporting its customers to decarbonize their operations with the latest technologies for clean hydrogen and carbon capture.
And by leveraging its world class engineering organization, its existing hydrogen infrastructure and operational expertise. Linde offers solutions across the entire clean hydrogen value chain and is implementing projects across a range of applications and industries with more in the pipeline. Okay, so a massive announcement between two juggernauts and hydrogen Linde and ExxonMobil. Now, last week, I talked about hydrogen storage for electrolytic hydrogen near Delta, Utah. And in that podcast I discussed how large those caverns were expected to be and as large as those will be, they pale in comparison to the storage potential ExxonMobil has for co2 disposal, and this agreement showcases the vast amount of storage these domes offer but also the unbelievable storage capacity ExxonMobil is wielding at their Beaumont facility. Now remember that ExxonMobil is targeting 1 billion cubic feet per day of hydrogen at their own Beaumont plant with over 98% carbon capture, meaning they have enough storage capacity on top of their current co2 load to include another 2.2 million tons a year from Linde. And that’s not even nearing capacity.
That is simply massive. But aside from those staggering numbers, there’s something I know about these two companies, they never send out a press release unless they are sure about a project’s future. So with that being said, the timeline announced around this release is also a great sign. Looking at the project start up by 2025 is an incredibly short timeframe, telling me that much of the logistics and groundwork have already been settled. And on the heels of that release, there’s another press release on June 1. ExxonMobil signs carbon capture agreement with Nucor Corporation, reaching 5 million tons per year milestone. ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions newest carbon capture and storage agreement with Nucor Corporation, one of North America’s largest steel producers, demonstrates their continued momentum and helping industrial customers reduce emissions. According to the press release they will capture, transport and store up to 800,000 metric tons per year of co2 from Nucor’s manufacturing site in Convent, Louisiana.
The site produces direct reduced iron or DRI, a raw material used to make high quality steel products, including automobiles, appliances and heavy equipment. It’s the third carbon capture agreement they’ve announced in the past seven months following the previous ones with industrial gas company Linde and one that we haven’t read here on the show yet CF industries maker of agricultural fertilizer. It also marks a milestone bringing the total co2 that they’ve agreed to transport and store for third party customers to 5 million metric tons per year, which is the equivalent to replacing approximately 2 million gas powered cars with electric vehicles, which is roughly equal to the total number of EVs on the US roads today, again, and a quote from Dan Ammann president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. He says their agreement with Nucor is the latest example of how they’re delivering on their mission to help accelerate the world’s path to net zero and build a compelling new business. Momentum is building as customers recognize their ability to solve emission challenges at scale. The Nucor project expected to start up in 2026 will tie into the same co2 transportation and storage infrastructure, as utilized by their CF industries project and supports Louisiana’s objective of reaching Net Zero co2 emissions by 2050. And as outlined in the recent low carbon solutions spotlight event, they’re focused on developing and deploying emission solutions for the energy intensive sectors of the economy, including industries like steel.
Okay, so another big co2 CCUS announcement from ExxonMobil more than doubling the total offtake co2 from the Linde deal to 5 million tonnes per year. Now, to me, this really does solidify what I’ve known about ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions viewpoint on the future of hydrogen. They know that leveraging hydrocarbons as the feedstock for hydrogen is the best way of building out the hydrogen economy in the near future. Now, that isn’t to say that electrolytic hydrogen won’t be viable in the future. But this method of hydrogen development creates the buffer needed for electrolytic hydrogen to recognize economies of scale, as well as identifying lower cost alternatives to the price the materials they now use. And we already are beginning to see evidence of this happening. It just needs time to develop. And now with these agreements, ExxonMobil is showing the world that they are prepped and ready for the hydrogen revolution.
They know hydrogen, they know subsea saltdome storage, and they know co2. And to be honest, it’s going to take legacy energy industry titans like ExxonMobil to turn their eyes to the future of energy and put their resources into developing solutions that better leverage how the world uses our best source of energy, hydrogen. But also, this is a massive signal to other heavy industries in the US. This announcement shows that US Steel is starting to recognize the need to decarbonize their operations. And so with this press release, I really do wonder which organizations either in steel or aluminum or any other smelting operation in the US or any other high heat heavy industry will take notice of this agreement and decide to take action. Now this announcement showcases one option, which is to go down the CCUS route and capture the co2 at the steel facility. The other option would be to convert to a hydrogen heat source.
Either way co2 is lowered for the facility, but the method covered in this press release is available now. And lastly in a quick press release from June 5, Charbone Hydrogen to participate at the Festival Grand Prix in Montreal. Charbone hydrogen Corporation is pleased to announce its participation at the crescent street Grand Prix festival from June 15 to June 18 2023 in Montreal. Charbone has been invited to participate at this prestigious and exceptionally attended event by the event promoter, the Feldman entertainment Quebec agency. Charbone will showcase its green hydrogen powered Hyundai Nexo vehicles. The crescent street Grand Prix festival fueled by Charbone hydrogen Corporation, announced to be thrilled to include a leading provider of green hydrogen fuel solutions dedicated to advancing sustainable transportation and reducing carbon emissions at the event, they aim to shape a greener future by promoting the adoption of hydrogen as a clean and efficient energy source. Now for decades, Crescent street Montreal has been the destination for race fans during the Grand Prix weekend. This downtown street is the epicenter for nightlife in Montreal and home of the crescent street Grand Prix festival.
The Montreal Grand Prix is renowned worldwide as the best Grand Prix city and the crescent street Grand Prix Festival will provide Charbone with unprecedented exposure. Now, I wanted to include this press release briefly just to highlight the trend that I’m seeing with racing events, including more and more hydrogen solutions. This Grand Prix event as well as Le Mans hydrogen class announcement, Toyota completing a 24 hour race with a hydrogen internal combustion engine, and Hyundai looking to make the Envision 74 a production vehicle all signal that hydrogen is very much on the precipice of becoming a standard fuel for personal transport vehicles. Now, yes, infrastructure still needs to be built out. But if offtake in the form of personal vehicles is more readily available, the risk associated with hydrogen refueling would be lessened significantly.
All right. That’s it for me, everyone. Now, if you have a second, I would really appreciate it. If you could leave a good review on whatever platform it is that you listen to Apple podcast, Spotify, Google, YouTube, whatever it is, that would be a tremendous help to the show. And as always, if you ever have any feedback, you’re welcome to email me directly at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. And as always, take care. Stay safe. I’ll talk to you later.
Hey, this is Paul. I hope you liked this podcast. If you did and want to hear more. I’d appreciate it if you would either subscribe to this channel on YouTube, or connect with your favorite platform through my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day.
