Convinced that hydrogen will be one of the drivers of the energy transition, leaders from the energy, transport and industrial sectors, along with Air Liquide, decided to join forces in 2017. Their objective: promoting a long-term vision of hydrogen technologies and usage, and accelerating its large-scale deployment. Three years down the line, the Hydrogen Council, co-chaired by Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO of Air Liquide and Takeshi Uchiyamada, Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, includes executives from more than 100 large international corporations which represent the entire hydrogen value chain and investment companies.
As well as the roll-out of stations for light vehicles in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the United States, Air Liquide is also focused on the truck segment. Large-scale projects are becoming a reality: in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Fos-sur-Mer in France for example, where the Group is par of key initiatives to develop large-capacity hydrogen stations which will be used to power long-distance trucks.
The diversity of these investments underlines the industrial momentum driven by the Group. “We are striving to united all players likely to have a major impact on this transformation: industrial players, states and global institutions,” explains Erwin Penfornis. Air Liquide has founded several initiatives worldwide, such as the Hydrogen Council
(see above) which brings together more than 100 executive officers of large international companies. The Group is also forming public-private partnerships, such as in California and South Korea, to develop hydrogen mobility. In France, it is part of the new National Hydrogen Council which is co-chaired by Benoît Potier, the Chairman and CEO of
Air Liquide, and Patrick Koller, the Chieft Executive Officer of Faurecia(1). Its purpose: to structure and develop the French industrial hydrogen segment. “These partnerships are fundamental in promoting collaborative solutions capable of scaling up production and distribution capacities, and thus making hydrogen a global reality" concludes
Erwin Penfornis.
Alongside hydrogen, biomethane is well placed in the transportation revolution. It decreases travel- related CO2 emissions by 85%, particles by 90% and noise by a potential 50% compared to diesel engines. The Group is investing across the entire value chain of this green energy source, from the recovery and purification of biogas right through to distribution to the end customer in Bio-NGV stations (natural gas for vehicles). The major advantage of this energy source: its natural position in a circular economy where biomass, transformed into biomethane, participates in the optimization of natural resources. In this context, customers can be both the generators of biomethane from the biomass that they produce, as well as the consumers of the energy thus obtained. "In this market of the future, we are already very active, with 20 biomethane production units worldwide and around 90 Bio-NGV stations in Europe," says Christiane Muller, Vice President of the Global Markets & Technologies activity at Air Liquide. Leading UK retailer ASDA has entrusted
Air Liquide with the installation and operation of six biomethane distribution stations to refuel trucks at its sites. In italy, the Group has just launched this activity with the construction of two production units near Milan, and also intends to build a biomethane filling station for transporters in the region. These investments underline the significant change of pace in the development of the Group’s biomethane activities in Europe.
Air Liquide, through its various innovations and achievements, is playing a leading role in making hydrogen and biomethane key solution for clean mobility. The change in scale is clearly visible.
(1) French global automotive supplier.
