Praxair, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Linde plc, has authorized the construction of a world-scale hydrogen plant in Louisiana to supply product under a long-term contract with a major refinery in the area. The new plant will be integrated with Praxair’s already extensive Louisiana production network via its Mississippi River Corridor hydrogen pipeline system.

Praxair will build, own and operate the steam methane reformer (SMR), which will have a capacity in excess of 170 million standard cubic feet per day of high-purity hydrogen. The new plant, which is planned to start up in 2021, will be one of the largest hydrogen production units in the US, along with the SMR recently announced by Praxair in Texas.

Linde Engineering has been selected to provide a state-of-the-art process design and to fabricate the core components and modules of the plant. Once complete, this project will increase Praxair’s US Gulf Coast hydrogen capacity to more than 1.7 billion standard cubic feet per day.

Hydrogen is used by petroleum refiners to produce ultra-low-sulfur diesel and other transportation fuels and by chemical companies to manufacture some critical intermediates and specialty chemicals. Demand for clean fuels continues to grow in order to comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.