Air Liquide welcomes Department of Energy to La Porte SMR

On March 7, Air Liquide hosted members of the U.S. Department of Energy at our La Porte, Texas SMR facility to discuss the importance of production of clean hydrogen and how Air Liquide is supporting DOE projects that are designed to accelerate the hydrogen market, while simultaneously supporting efforts to build a clean energy economy that puts the U.S. on the path towards achieving a net-zero emissions economy-wide.  

Sunita Satayapal, director of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, and Jeff Marootian, senior advisor to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm met with Katie Ellet, president, Hydrogen Energy and Mobility; Dave Edwards, hydrogen energy advocate; Peter Mackey, director, Strategy & policy support, WBL H2E; Clay Williams, senior commercial director, Hydrogen/Syngas; and Rich Fenza, operations director, Hydrogen/Syngas pipeline participated in a discussion to highlight hydrogen’s role in creating a sustainable future and how recent U.S. policies and investments in clean energy can further strengthen and benefit our hydrogen economy and infrastructure.

Picture L to R:  Matt Anderson, Patrick Scanlon, Rich Fenza, John Jackson, Dave Edwards, Sunita Satayapal, Jeff Marootian, Katie Ellet, Peter Mackey, Kelsey Smitherman, Clay Williams  

Sunita and Jeff toured the site guided by La Porte plant manager, John Jackson.  During the tour discussion on how Air Liquide is utilizing its expertise in hydrogen production with its combination of technologies, including Air Liquide’s proprietary Cryocap™ H2 & Cryocap™ FG technologies that take an economically-efficient carbon capture approach for existing Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) plants in order to achieve deep reductions of CO2 emissions arising from hydrogen production. 

Following Secretary Granholm’s visit to the La Porte, Texas SMR in May of 2021, this marks the second visit from members of the U.S. Department of Energy to this site.