Linde to supply low-carbon hydrogen to Dow’s carbon neutral polyethylene plant

The industrial gas firm Linde has detailed plans to build a $2 billion facility that will supply low-carbon hydrogen to a complex in Alberta, Canada, where Dow plans to produce ethylene and polyethylene with minimal greenhouse gas emissions. Linde will use an autothermal reformer to produce hydrogen using natural gas and the off-gases from Dow’s ethylene cracker, while capturing the carbon dioxide emissions from the process. Dow plans to use the hydrogen to fuel the furnaces that heat the crackers. Linde’s facility will also supply hydrogen to other customers. The Alberta project is Linde’s largest-ever investment. In 2023, the German firm announced that it would build a $1.8 billion facility to supply low-carbon hydrogen for an ammonia plant in Texas. In a research note about the new deal, analysts at the investment bank Jefferies write that while the technology to generate hydrogen from water electrolysis is advancing, reforming fossil fuels into hydrogen and capturing the carbon emissions will be the dominant way of making clean hydrogen into the 2030s. Dow aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 15% during this decade and achieve net-zero CO₂emissions by 2050.