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.
When fully built out in 2023, the industrial gases hub will reliably serve the continued growth of Jubail Industrial City and support the growing prosperity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and will enable Jubail to achieve higher values for off-gases and introduce new technologies to convert low-value feedstocks into high-value products.
The SMR hydrogen production plant to be built, owned and operated by Air Products Qudra, will match the largest ever built by Air Products. The SMR, which will serve refineries and petrochemical industries to fulfil the growing demand in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia, will feature the latest technology to maximize energy efficiency and reduce emissions and include optimal heat integration to reduce and lower feedstock consumption.
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.