ExxonMobil and BASF Launch Baytown Demo to Scale Low-Emission Hydrogen Tech

By Charles Kennedy - Nov 17, 2025

ExxonMobil and BASF have entered a strategic development agreement to commercialize methane pyrolysis, a low-emission hydrogen technology that produces solid carbon instead of CO?. The collaboration includes plans for a demonstration plant at ExxonMobil’s Baytown complex in Texas—marking one of the most significant pushes yet to scale pyrolysis-based hydrogen for industrial markets.

The companies will co-develop methane-pyrolysis technology and build a facility designed to produce up to 2,000 tons of low-emission hydrogen and 6,000 tons of solid carbon annually. The project aims to validate BASF’s reactor design at scale and accelerate commercial deployment.

Methane pyrolysis has emerged as one of the more promising pathways for “turquoise hydrogen”—a variant that splits methane into hydrogen and solid carbon using electricity, avoiding process CO? emissions and requiring significantly less energy than water electrolysis. The resulting solid carbon can be used in steel, aluminum, construction materials, and battery components, potentially helping offset production costs.

The technology’s appeal is especially strong in regions where carbon capture and storage (CCS) is economically or geologically constrained. ExxonMobil underscored this point, noting that methane pyrolysis complements its wider low-carbon strategy and offers a pathway to low-emission hydrogen without large-scale CO? transport and storage infrastructure.

BASF has spent more than a decade developing methane pyrolysis, supported by German federal R&D funding. Its pilot plant in Ludwigshafen has already validated the core reactor concept, while ExxonMobil brings long-standing expertise in methane-conversion technologies and large-scale project execution. The Baytown demonstration unit represents the next step toward industrial readiness.

Interest in low-carbon hydrogen continues to grow as heavy industry, chemicals, and refining look for decarbonization solutions that can integrate with existing assets. But the market remains split across multiple pathways—blue hydrogen via CCS, green hydrogen via electrolysis, and emerging thermal processes such as methane pyrolysis.

Pyrolysis has gained momentum because it avoids the massive electricity requirements of electrolysis and does not depend on secure CO? storage formations. If ExxonMobil and BASF can demonstrate cost-competitive output at scale, the approach could become an attractive option for industrial clusters tied into natural gas networks.

The Baytown demonstration plant will be critical to proving commercial viability. Success would support wider industrial deployment and potentially give ExxonMobil a scalable hydrogen pathway capable of operating across diverse regulatory environments. For BASF, the collaboration aligns with its strategy to shrink its product carbon footprint and offer customers lower-emission inputs.

As hydrogen markets accelerate—with U.S. policy incentives, European decarbonization targets, and industrial buyers seeking lower-carbon feedstocks—this partnership places both companies at the forefront of an emerging “turquoise hydrogen” segment that could reshape the economics of hydrogen production.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com