Lehigh Valley-based Air Products to build $4.5B clean energy complex in Louisiana

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Upper Macungie Township-based industrial gas supplier Air Products announced Thursday it will build a $4.5 billion clean energy facility in Louisiana’s capital region.

The planned complex in Ascension Parish will produce “blue hydrogen,” which uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel with the carbon dioxide emissions captured and stored underground. Air Products said the facility will create 170 permanent jobs with a total annual payroll of $15.9 million, plus thousands of construction jobs to build the site over three years.

The facility is expected to be up and running in 2026.

“Carbon capture and sequestration are important to Louisiana’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while maintaining jobs and growing our manufacturing base. This project is a clear demonstration of our ability to grow the Louisiana economy while lowering the carbon footprint of industry,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement.

The Democratic governor and Air Products President and CEO Seifi Ghasemi planned to celebrate the plans at an announcement event Thursday in Baton Rouge.

The Upper Macungie Township-based company produces and transports hydrogen around the world. Its Ascension Parish facility will be its largest investment in the United States and will be one of the world’s largest carbon capture facilities, company officials said.

The hydrogen created in Louisiana will be supplied to Air Products customers around the Gulf Coast and will be used to make ammonia that will be transported internationally and converted back to blue hydrogen.

Air Products is in the process of building a new world headquarters on Mill Creek Road spanning Upper and Lower Macungie Townships. Its current headquarters is at 7201 Hamilton Blvd. in Upper Macungie.

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