Element Fuels Holdings, LLC, a company founded to develop and operate scalable, next-generation clean fuels production, has completed site preparation and pre-construction on a new hydrogen-powered refinery and combined-cycle power plant within the Port of Brownsville, Texas.

The Element complex is designed to produce and recycle hydrogen using advanced technologies that will generate and deliver significantly cleaner, higher-quality fuels, including high-octane gasoline and electricity for commercial and consumer consumption.

Element Fuels has received the necessary permitting to construct and operate a refinery capable of producing in excess of 160,000 barrels, or approximately 6.7 million gallons, per day of finished gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. A permit for a greenfield refinery of this size, scope, and functionality has not been granted in the United States since the 1970s. This speaks to the innovative approaches we are taking to address climate and sustainability concerns in cleaner, greener ways that are new to the refinery space.

—Founder and Co-CEO John Calce

Expected to be operational in 2027, Element Fuels’ first of its kind refinery combines advanced, commercially proven technologies, provided by best-in-class partners. Designed to process exclusively high gravity domestic shale oil, the refinery will produce low-carbon intensity fuels that will materially reduce carbon emissions.

The facility will also produce enough low-carbon hydrogen to supply approximately 100% of the refinery’s fuel requirements, essentially eliminating CO₂ emissions. Hydrogen produced in excess of the refinery’s needs will be used to generate low carbon, utility-scale electricity from Element’s hydrogen-capable combined-cycle gas turbine power plant.

More than 100 MW of excess electricity generated from Element’s power plant will be made available to the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to reliably support the surrounding community’s needs.

The Element complex is being built on more than 240 acres within the Port of Brownsville, a deepwater port in South Texas that has become an emerging, strategic location for the movement of bulk petroleum and refined products, natural gas liquids, and other specialized bulk liquid commodities.

Element Fuels has contracted with McDermott, to provide front-end engineering design services for the facility, including offsites and utilities.