The Hyperion Energy Center is a state-of-the-art site for locating symbiotic manufacturing facilities with the economies of scale of shared infrastructure. All facilities associated with the Hyperion Energy Center will incorporate the most advanced commercially feasible emission control technologies and adhere to green principles. The Hyperion Energy Center is a development of Hyperion, a company dedicated to ensuring that America has adequate energy supply and that this energy is produced in an environmentally responsible manner. Hyperion is devoted to raising the standards by which the entire energy industry is judged.

What facilities will be sited at the Hyperion Energy Center?

The current plans for the Hyperion Energy Center provide for a 400,000 barrel per day greenfield refinery. This refinery will be a highly-complex, full-conversion facility that will produce green transportation fuels (ultra-low sulfur gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel and ultra-low sulfur aviation fuel). An integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant is currently planned to produce hydrogen, power and steam for the refinery and will consume the refinery's petroleum coke byproduct.

What products will the Hyperion Energy Center's refinery produce?

The refinery will produce primarily ultra-low sulfur gasoline (ULSG), including reformulated blends and various grades of conventional gasoline and ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). It will produce approximately 400,000 barrels of fuel per day, roughly equal to the total daily fuel use in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Where will the gasoline, diesel, etc. from the refinery go?

The fuel produced at the refinery will be distributed to those markets it can supply most cost-effectively – primarily in the Midwest. Currently the Midwest region imports well over one million barrels of refined product a day from Gulf Coast region refineries.

What will this refinery mean for the United States?

The Hyperion Energy Center refinery will help America in three important ways:

It will help enhance America's petroleum independence by processing North American crude oil here in North America. The U.S. currently does not have the refining capacity to process the heavy Canadian crudes that will come on the market in the next decade. The Hyperion Energy Center will provide a cutting-edge ultra-clean refinery to accommodate this increased volume of Canadian heavy crude.
It will enhance our nation's petroleum refining capacity, and therefore reduce imports of foreign refined products and increase the security of our supply of transportation fuels. Despite growing demand for oil and petroleum products, the last refinery built in the U.S. was completed in 1976. Existing facilities simply cannot keep up with demand and imports have increased dramatically. An inland location will also help eliminate risks from tropical storms that regularly threaten a significant percentage of U.S. refining infrastructure.
It will raise the standard for the entire petroleum industry by demonstrating that environmental principles and petroleum refining are not mutually exclusive. The Hyperion Energy Center will provide a model for the design of new and upgraded refineries. It will incorporate best-in-class green building principles and stringent environmental guidelines to protect our air, water, wetlands, and landscapes.

Why now?

Currently, the U.S. imports about 13 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products each day, almost half of it from OPEC nations. Meanwhile, just north of the border, our Canadian neighbors are finding ways to increase production, offering a more stable, closer supply of crude that can be refined here, in the Heartland.

What type of employment opportunities will the Hyperion Energy Center create?

The project expects to provide thousands of jobs during the course of construction and operation. You can find more information on the Employment portion of the site.

How much will the Hyperion Energy Center cost to build?

The preliminary cost of the refinery and power plant has been estimated in the range of $10 billion.

How many acres will the Hyperion Energy Center require?

The actual facilities will require approximately 2,000 acres of land for the processing units and storage facilities. Additionally, a buffer surrounding the facility will ensure adequate distance from public and homeowner lands.

When will construction begin?

Currently our plan is to begin construction in 2009. As with any large-scale facility that requires special permits, the schedule is contingent on obtaining those permits and other requirements in a timely fashion. Hyperon is not seekng any shortcuts on environmental pemitting and is committed to complying with all environmental regulations from the begining of the permitting process. See the project timeline for more information.

Where will the Hyperion Energy Center be built?

Several sites are currently being evaluated. Hyperion has currently announced one of the proposed sites situated in the Siouxland area. For the most current information on this project, sign up for ongoing updates from Hyperion.

Why did Hyperion select a 400,000 barrel per day sized facility?

In 1981 there were over 300 operating refineries in the U.S. Today there are 149. The majority of refineries closed were smaller refineries that could not afford to outfit their facilities with the required emissions controls. Building a 400,000 barrel/day greenfield refinery gives Hyperion the advantage of economies of scale.

For how many years will the Hyperion Energy Center operate?

The Hyperion Energy Center is designed and sited to operate for as long as Americans demand products such as ultra low sulfur gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. Hyperion is committed to operating the most advanced energy facilities in the World for the 21st century.

How would the Hyperion Energy Center help stabilize petroleum product prices in the Midwest?

Not only is the U.S. becoming more relient on imported petroleum products from forign countries, the Midwest region imports over one million barrels of refined product from the Gulf Coast. If a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, causes Gulf Coast refineries to shut down, the effects will more than likely be felt in the Midwest. Adding site diversity to America's refining capacity is in the best interest of consumers. For more information see Insufficient Refining Capacity.

How do I contact Hyperion regarding the Hyperion Energy Center?

See the Contact Us page.

Health, Safety and Environmental

How will you protect the environment?

This project will be one of the cleanest and most environmentally-sound refineries in the world. The design will incorporate state-of-the-art technology that meets or exceeds the federal standards for emission control technology. Hyperion will comply strictly with all environmental and permitting laws and is not seeking any sort of exceptions or special treatment. The facility will provide the greatest possible protection of wetlands, waterway and migratory flyways. We will reduce nighttime visibility of the facility with innovative lighting design and technology. The project will minimize its impact on the surrounding ecosystem and mitigate wetlands affected by the project through enhancement of existing wetland and creation of new wetlands in the general project area. From the very beginning, it will incorporate “green” building principles, including energy efficient building materials, windows and lighting, and will reduce the use of energy and water. The planned hydrogen producing IGCC power plant will be cleaner and more energy-efficient than alternative solid fossil fuel power generation technologies.

What about air and water quality?

All refineries produce emissions. What makes the Hyperion Energy Center unique is that it will rank amongst the cleanest and most efficient refineries anywhere in the world. The Hyperion Energy Center refinery will meet or exceed all rules and regulations mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of which it's sited. Additionally, the Hyperion Energy Center will incorporate a sophisticated water treatment system to ensure that water use is minimzed and that there are no negative impacts on water resources in the area. It's also important to keep in mind that in addition to releasing fewer pollutants during the refining process, the Hyperion Energy Center refinery will produce cleaner gasoline and diesel fuels for our cars, trucks, and manufacturing facilities. The net effect is fewer emissions overall.

What are "the most advanced emission technologies"?

The facilities associated with the Hyperion Energy Center will incorporate Best Available Control Technology (BACT), a set of air pollution control methodologies to limit emissions based on the maximum degree of emission reduction achievable through the application of production processes and available methods, systems, and techniques. BACT is recognized by regulatory agencies as minimizing the emission of air pollutants for a particular industry or process. Significantly, it does not permit emissions in excess of those allowed under any applicable Clean Air Act provisions. The Hyperion Energy Center will also make use of a hydrogen-producing power plant based on Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, a technology that creates and uses synthetic gas (syngas) as a source of clean fuel. IGCC is desirable since it may offer the lowest long-term cost option for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

What are the water needs of the Hyperion Energy Center?

The refinery and IGCC power plant will require approximately 9 to 12 million gallons of water per day. Sources will be determined during the course of different project site evaluations.

What impact will be required of local bodies of water / aquifers?

Hyperion is committed to strategies, site selection, and water treatment processes which ensure that the project’s use of water will not impact the quality of the associated bodies of water and will not adversely affect other water users in the area. We will ensure that there is more than adequate water resource in the area, and the project can be supplied with no impairment of water resources for other existing agriculture, industrial and residential uses.

What safety measures will be put into place?

Hyperion rigidly adheres to stringent safety requirements, and manages its contractors carefully in order to protect the health and safety of all employees and the general public. Special emphasis will be placed on hazard prevention, assessment, and communication. We will meet or exceed all state and federal OSHA regulations. Our on-site emergency response teams will be capable of handling any facility event and will work with all state and local government agencies in cooperative training and response programs. In addition, we will maintain a drug and alcohol-free workplace, including an aggressive, random drug-testing program.

What will happen to the water runoff?

The Hyperion Energy Center will capture all process wastewater and stormwater runoff that has the potential to have come into contact with petroleum products. This captured water will be routed to an on-site treatment plant. The plant will treat the water to acceptable standards and will discharge treated water in accordance with a permit from the applicable state agency.

Will this refinery have smoking flares like many other refineries?

No. Flares are an important and necessary safety device at all refineries and many similar facilities, such as chemical plants. However, the primary purpose of a flare is to provide for safe disposal of hydrocarbon gases that could be released during an upset or emergency. The Hyperion Energy Center will include emergency flares that are specifically designed for this purpose. However, unlike most refineries, the Hyperion Energy Center will be designed from the ground up with sufficient capacity for recovering and beneficially using all continuous, routine, and intermittently generated gas streams, rather than routing these streams to a flare.

What air emission controls will the Hyperion Energy Center employ?

The facility will have dozens of air emission controls. The most important air emissions control measures are the pollutant prevention measures that avoid the creation of certain air emissions, as opposed to less efficient “end-of-pipe” air pollution control equipment.

These pollution prevention measures, most of which are in use to a lesser extent at some existing refineries and power plants, include:

Process gas compressor systems that will provide for recovery and beneficial use of gases that would otherwise be burned in flares.
Ultra-low-NOx burners in all process heaters to minimize NOx formation.
Highly efficient heat exchange equipment to minimize the wasting of energy to the atmosphere (thereby reducing fuel consumption per barrel of product).
Use of gas fuel in process heaters (which is inherently less polluting than liquid fuel).
Amine scrubbing to remove sulfur from fuel gases prior to combustion of those gases in process heaters, a physical solvent-based sulfur removal system for the “syngas” used as fuel in the IGCC power plant.
An activated carbon adsorption system for removal of mercury from syngas prior to combustion.
Extensive use of hydrocracking technology so that the refinery can produce clean transportation fuels without a fluidized catalytic cracking unit (which is the highest-emitting unit in nearly all refineries).
Internal floating roofs in storage tanks to minimize evaporation and subsequent Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions to the atmosphere.
Seal-less piping components, such as bellows seal valves (to reduce leaks of VOC emissions to the atmosphere from those components).
Enclosure of petroleum coke storage piles to prevent windblown dust.
In addition, the fundamental decision to use IGCC technology for the power plant is also a form of pollution prevention, as IGCC is inherently less emitting than other options for meeting the refinery’s requirements.
End-of-pipe air pollution control equipment to be employed at the facility includes selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology for reducing NOx emissions from many process heaters and from the IGCC power plant, vapor recovery equipment for displaced hydrocarbon vapors from product loading racks, and fabric filter baghouses to minimize particulate matter emissions from solid material handling operations.

As the engineering design of the refinery and the IGCC power plant are still underway, other pollution prevention measures and end-of-pipe air pollution control equipment, not yet listed here, will also be employed and will be identified as the design progresses.