Air Products was selected by Equilon Enterprises, LLC, a subsidiary of Shell Oil Products U.S., to upgrade Shell’s hydrogen refueling station in Torrance, California, to a state-of-the-art 200-kilogram-per-day retail station. The project requires installation of new hydrogen compression, purification, cooling and dispenser technology. The upgrade will convert the station from non-retail to retail status and help improve vehicle filling performance and consumer interaction.
The upgraded station will have the fueling capacity of 200 kilograms of hydrogen per 12-hour day (the equivalent of 200 gallons of gasoline per day). The newly designed dispensers will allow retail fuelings, which means the accuracy of the quantity of fuel delivered will be in compliance with the latest California Division of Measurement and Standards, and the consumer will be able to pay for the hydrogen at the station. Additionally, the station will be designed to provide 350-bar (5,000 psi) and 700-bar (10,000 psi) vehicle fuelings, allow two cars to be fueled simultaneously, and enable three back-to-back vehicle fills per dispenser.
“The need to upgrade this station is a reflection that the use of hydrogen as a clean and sustainable transportation fuel is here today and really taking hold,” said Nick Mittica, Commercial Business Manager, Hydrogen Energy Systems, at Air Products. “Air Products is proud of the critical role we play in providing our proprietary technology for the hydrogen fueling market to support both today’s hydrogen-powered vehicles and the vehicles that will continue to be rolled out by major automobile manufacturers in the months and years to come.”
“The Torrance pipeline station has been the backbone of hydrogen refueling in Southern California for a long time, so it is encouraging to see the station upgraded,” said Oliver Bishop, General Manager, Hydrogen, at Shell. “Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are one of the technological innovations that can help improve air quality while offering convenience for motorists. We welcome more of these vehicles at our stations.”
The fueling station is supplied by Air Products’s hydrogen pipeline, located less than 50 feet from the station and connected to Air Products’s hydrogen production facilities in California. Shell’s hydrogen fueling station in Torrance, which first opened in May 2011, was the world’s first pipeline-supplied hydrogen station and was designed to supply hydrogen for several automobile manufacturers’ fuel cell vehicles in the region.
Use of Air Products’s fueling technology is increasing and is already used in conducting over one million hydrogen fills per year. The company has been involved in over 200 hydrogen fueling projects in the United States and 20 countries worldwide. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment and even submarines have been fueled with market-leading Air Products technologies. Details on Air Products’s hydrogen fueling station technologies can be viewed at www.airproducts.com/h2energy.
