ExxonMobil hires Honeywell for hydrogen plant

ExxonMobil’s planned hydrogen production facility is expected to produce 1 billion cubic tons of hydrogen per day while capturing an expected 98% of the CO2 caused by production. (Illustration: ExxonMobil.)

ExxonMobil recently granted Honeywell a contract to deploy one of its carbon capture technologies for the CO2 Fractionation and Hydrogen Purification System at the company’s planned hydrogen and carbon capture plant in Baytown, Texas. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

This technology is expected to enable ExxonMobil to capture about 7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, the equivalent of the emission of 1.5 million of automobiles for one year.

Honeywell carbon capture technology will be integrated into the design of ExxonMobil’s low-carbon hydrogen production facility and enable it to capture more than 98 percent of associated CO2 emissions. The captured CO2 is expected to be sequestered and permanently stored by ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil’s Baytown low-carbon hydrogen, ammonia and carbon capture facility is expected to produce around one billion cubic feet of low-carbon hydrogen per day, making this the largest low-carbon hydrogen project in the world at planned startup in 2027-2028. ExxonMobil’s Baytown integrated complex is home to the largest olefins plant in the United States. The site is located on approximately 3400 acres along the Houston Ship Channel.

“ExxonMobil’s investment in carbon capture technology shows our commitment to supporting customers in their decarbonization efforts and to reducing emissions at our own operations,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “The scale of this project is expected to enable up to 30% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions from our Baytown facility by switching from natural gas as a fuel source to low-carbon hydrogen.”

“The use of Honeywell’s technology enables ExxonMobil to reduce CO2 emissions at a large scale,” said Barry Glickman, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Sustainable Technology Solutions. “Our ready-now carbon capture technology works to decarbonize production processes and is effective because it can allow for significant emissions reduction that can play a major role in the energy transition.”

With more than 50 years of experience in gas processing, Honeywell has extensive experience with proven carbon capture and hydrogen technologies. Honeywell’s new advanced solvent CO2 capture and hydrogen solutions allow for CO2 to be captured, transported, and stored at a lower cost through greater efficiency, while allowing for smaller equipment and lower capital operational expenses needed to run the plant compared to existing technologies.

Today, 15 million tons per year of CO2 is being captured and used in storage/utilization applications through Honeywell’s CO2 Solutions process expertise. Current Honeywell customers have the capacity to capture 40 million tons of CO2 per year through installed projects worldwide that utilize Honeywell CO2 technology, Honeywell said.

The contract with Honeywell comes a few weeks after ExxonMobil granted French engineering firm Technip Energies a separate contract award for front-end engineering and design (FEED) for its planned Baytown Refinery hydrogen facility near Houston.

Technip will manage the next stage of front-end engineering and design for the development in Baytown, Tex. A final decision for Baytown Refinery is expected by 2024 — subject to stakeholder support, regulatory permitting and market conditions.