Air Products Qudra, in collaboration with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, held a ceremonial groundbreaking to mark the start of work in building a world-class, fully-integrated industrial gases hub in the Jubail Industrial City.
The significant investment by Air Products Qudra involves
- building, owning and operating a world-scale steam methane reformer (SMR) to produce hydrogen;
- an air separation unit (ASU) to produce oxygen and nitrogen;
- hydrogen pressure swing adsorption (PSA) units to recover hydrogen from off-gases; and
- the installation of comprehensive pipeline networks to connect and transport industrial gases to the broad refinery and chemical customer base in the region.
Seifi Ghasemi, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer for Air Products said, “Air Products is leading the way in developing technologies and solutions that make a difference for our world. These are our priorities and where we are focused. In collaboration with the Royal Commission, this investment in Jubail demonstrates that focus and is another example where we can bring Air Products’ full suite of capabilities in support of sustainable energy and chemicals production to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Dr. Samir Serhan, Chairman of Air Products Qudra and Executive Vice President for Air Products said, “The investment we are making in Jubail is a continuation of our (Air Products Qudra’s) mission to bring world-class technology, on-site solutions, leading project execution and operational leadership for large-scale energy and environmental projects throughout the Middle East region.”
When fully built out in 2023, the industrial gases hub will reliably serve the continued growth of Jubail Industrial City and enable Jubail to achieve higher values for off-gases and introduce new technologies to convert low-value feedstocks into high-value products.
The SMR will feature the latest technology to maximize energy efficiency and reduce emissions, and include optimal heat integration to reduce and lower feedstock consumption. The plant configuration and deployed technologies will also contribute to Air Products’ sustainability goals of reducing energy consumption and emissions.
The SMR will serve refineries and petrochemical industries to fulfil the growing demand in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia.
The Jubail facility will include an ASU and PSAs and the location will serve as the pipeline hub for industrial gases to be supplied to individual customer connections in the region.
This investment includes building the second hydrogen fueling station in Saudi Arabia at the site. Saudi Aramco and Air Products inaugurated the first hydrogen fueling station in Saudi Arabia at Air Products’ new Technology Center in the Dhahran Techno Valley Science Park in June 2019.