“It’s astonishing how many places use hydrogen,” said Sergio Martinez, president/CEO of Pan American Hydrogen, Inc. The engineer said his company designs, builds and installs hydrogen generating plants worldwide for the petrochemical, automotive, stainless steel, electronics and plastics industries. They have installed plants in Asia, Europe, and North and South America.
Hydrogen typically functions as a component or raw material in these industries or as a tool or utility in their processes.
After 15 years at the Port of Brownsville, Pan American relocated to the Harlingen Industrial Park last year. “Three or four years ago, it became apparent we were running short of space,” said Stephen McLaughlin, who heads Pan American’s business development. “The industrial demand for hydrogen is increasing as the rest of the world industrializes.” After looking all over the Valley, the manufacturers settled on the 45-acre tract with an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing space, eight times more than the company’s initial production area.
Much of the steel Pan American uses is purchased in Texas or Mexico, and most components, such as electrical controls, are American made. Pan American is fully integrated to build an entire plant in the Valley. Then the new plant, organized into approximately 30 modules plus the tanks, are shipped as individual components to the ultimate destination. Most of Pan American’s orders go by truck as oversized, permitted loads. One recent plant required more than 80 truckloads. “The place we have here is also strategically located to ship by barge or ocean freighter, either from the Port of Harlingen or the Port of Brownsville, or by rail across the U.S. or to any point in the world,” added Martinez.
Once on site, Pan American assembles the plant and starts it up. Designed to operate continuously, a hydrogen generation plant that produces one million standard cubic feet (scf) per day of 99.999% pure hydrogen can have a footprint of just sixty feet by ninety feet, Martinez explained. Pan American’s in-house process, chemical and electrical engineers specialize in designing small to mid-size plants that produce from one to 20 million scf. A plant’s components include pressure tanks, temperature controllers, piping, structural skins, heat exchanger tanks and the reactor vessels.
Martinez discussed a hydrogen plant they recently installed at a Florida re-refinery. Using an environmentally beneficial method, the re-refiner mixes hydrogen with 28 million gallons of used motor oil in a patented, proprietary process. This results in 24 million gallons of food grade white oil. “Hydrogen helps remove sulphur components from any oils, mineral or organic,” Martinez explained. “Hydrogen strips the sulphur and helps the fluid achieve the targeted specifications.”
Similarly, in the manufacturing of silicon wafers for computers, hydrogen removes atmospheric oxygen so the final product has no imperfections or contaminations.. Another major use is in the production of nylon pellets which are the raw material for making everything from rugs to tires. “One of our plants is used in what is said to be the largest integrated nylon facility in the world,” McLaughlin said.
To continue reading this story by Eileen Mattei, visit the “Current & Past Issues” link on this website or pick up a copy of the April 2014 edition of Valley Business Report.