A unique model - Page 10 | Air Liquide - 2020 Shareholder’s Guide

PATENT

2 industrial gases

production modes

Centralized

production

On-site

production

at customers’

24 millions

cylinders

for small

quantities

>9,600 km

of pipelines for

large quantities

3 industrial gases distribution

networks

Management

and optimization

of production

and distribution

chain

+10,000 trucks

for medium quantities

Active involvement

in new markets

Global presence

and local activity

A wide range of customers

and applications

Major ability

to innovate

Long-term customer

contracts, indexed to

energy prices

Extensive

s c i e n t i  c

and technical

expertise

in industrial gases

(oxygen, nitrogen,

hydrogen, etc.)

4,300

employees

contributing

to innovation

11,000 patents

Innovation

Campuses

Long-term vision

and clear strategy

OUR PROFILE

OUR BUSINESS

MODEL

~67,000

committed employees

in 80 countries

+3.7 million

customers

and patients

A world leader

in industrial

gases

and related

services

A unique

model

CONTRACTS

ENGINEERING

& CONSTRUCTION

(a)

Plants and equipment

for industrial gas production

GLOBAL

MARKETS

& TECHNOLOGIES 3%

(a)

Molecules, equipment

and services to support

the markets of

energy transition

and deep tech

(b)

HEALTHCARE 17%

(a)

Medical gases, products

and services to support

patients and customers in

the hospital and at home

ELECTRONICS 9%

(a)

Ultra-pure gases in large

quantities and development

of new molecules

INDUSTRIAL

MERCHANT 44%

(a)

Industrial gases in small

and medium quantities,

application technologies,

small equipment and related

services serving a wide range

of customers

LARGE

INDUSTRIES 26%

(a)

Industrial gases in large

quantities in the framework

of long-term partnerships

OUR ACTIVITIES

(a)

Percentage of 2019 Group revenue.

(b)

Disruptives technologies based on scienti c breakthroughs that can fundamentally change design and production methods.

▶Chemicals

▶Refining & energy

▶Metals

▶Materials & energy

▶Automotive & fabrication

▶Food & pharmaceuticals

▶Technology & research

▶ Entrepreneurs & distributors

▶Semiconductors

▶Flat panels

▶Photovoltaic

▶Hospitals

▶Home healthcare

▶

Hygiene & specialty

ingredients

▶Energy transition

▶Deep tech

(b)

▶Customers choosing

to insource their industrial

gas needs

TO SUPPORT ALMOST

ALL ECONOMIC SECTORS

Contributing to

the progress

of all industries

(a)

Technological  eld dedicated to analyzing very large volumes of data.

Industry must reinvent itself in order to be more competitive,

more e cient and safer while also becoming more environ-

mentally friendly. There are several drivers of this change:

technological innovation, digital solutions, big data

(a)

, and more.

Thanks to its expertise, coupled with the in-depth knowledge

of its customers’ processes in almost all industries, Air Liquide

plays a key role in supporting these changes.

12 - Shareholder’s Guide Contributing to the progress of all industries

Inventing a more ef cient

and low-carbon industry

with our customers

Every day, Air Liquide serves a large number of industries and, for each

customer, our commitment remains the same: contributing to the quality

of their products and their growth, while optimizing their e ciency and

reducing their environmental footprint. We therefore work in partnership

with them to design innovative solutions.

Innovating for all industries

Our customers in the glass industry use oxy-combustion, a process which

is based on the enrichment of air with pure oxygen during combustion to

enhance its e ciency. HeatOx technology, developed by Air Liquide, allows

to further improve this process by reusing heat produced by the production

process to pre-heat the fuel and oxygen before combustion. We therefore

reduce oxygen and natural gas consumption as well as CO

emissions,

while also decreasing nitrogen oxide emissions.

In the maritime transport industry, we have developed a solution for tankers

carrying Liqueﬁ ed Natural Gas (LNG). This refrigeration and liquefaction

technology, based on the “Turbo-Brayton” physical principle, reliqueﬁ es

the evaporated natural gas and keeps it in the container in liquid form in

order to signiﬁ cantly reduce greenhouse emissions during transport.

In electronics, we have created enScribe™, a new family of advanced

materials capable of etching the memory chip architectures at a nanometric

scale while also reducing their impact on the environment.

Exploring new applications for our gases

in concrete? This is the key to new sustainable concrete and is the focus

of our partnership with American start-up Solidia Technologies, renewed in

2019. Water is replaced by CO

, which reduces the concrete’s curing time,

sequestrates large quantities of CO

and reduces water consumption.

Hydrogen for the production of steel? This is the focus of a pioneering

project for lower carbon steel production in partnership with thyssenkrupp

Steel, a world leading supplier of carbon steel ﬂ at products. At one of

their blast furnaces in Germany, we inject hydrogen to partially replace

pulverized coal at a large scale during steel production and thus reduce

emissions.

Did you know?

The only use of one

molecule of the enScribe™

family by a major

semiconductor customer has

contributed to reducing CO

equivalent emissions by 1%

in this sector worldwide.

-20%

This is thyssenkrupp

Steel’s CO

emissions

reduction target thanks

to the new low-carbon

steel production project

set up in partnership

with Air Liquide.

~50

This is the number of

contracts signed by

Air Liquide over the last

two years to roll out the

“Turbo-Brayton” solution

which relique es natural

gas boil-off on LNG carriers.

The Group therefore

contributes to avoiding

more than 240,000 tons

of CO

- equivalent

emissions per year.

Shareholder’s Guide - 13Contributing to the progress of all industries