A thriving ecosystem
Air Liquide’s innovation approach is part of an open and global ecosystem. It is supported by our 5 Innovation Campuses in Europe, the United States, and Asia, and by the Campus Technologies Grenoble in France.
Alongside our scientific and industrial partners, Air Liquide’s R&D teams are working actively to constantly deepen the Group’s knowledge of essential small molecules in order to harness their full potential and provide new solutions to the challenges facing industry, high technology, and healthcare.
The Group’s innovation is also nourished by technologies developed by promising start-ups. These may get support from ALIAD, Air Liquide’s venture capital arm, or from Accelair, our start-up accelerator, which provides them with experimentation spaces and a support program. These two entities help start-ups continue their growth and bring their technologies to market, with assistance from Air Liquide experts.
Focus on promising technological solutions
DECARBONIZING THE GLASS INDUSTRY USING HYDROGEN
My team is conducting a series of combustion tests under real-life conditions to replace natural gas with hydrogen to reduce the CO2 emissions of the glass industry. We are developing a technology to combust hydrogen along with oxygen, which will enable glass furnaces to emit only water vapor. SDG Pharma, a manufacturer of pharmaceutical-grade glass containers, contacted us to test our technology at its site, as it is looking for practical solutions to lower its furnace’s CO2 emissions. 
⟶ Anna-Maria Pubill Melsió,Combustion Team Leader, Innovation Campus Paris, Air Liquide
UNLOCKING HYDROGEN’S POTENTIAL
The ammonia-cracking technology that we have developed represents a major step forward in the production of low-carbon hydrogen. Right now, the challenge with hydrogen is to deploy it at a large scale. With this in mind, we tested and optimized our technology at a pilot plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The pilot is the first step towards the construction of an industrial-scale renewable ammonia cracking plant, for which the Group has obtained support from the European Innovation Fund. It will contribute to the development of an ammonia-based low-carbon hydrogen production and distribution industry in Europe.
⟶Dieter Ulber, Hyco Technologies Director, Air Liquide
RELIABILITY AND SAFETY AT THE HEART OF SUBLEEM™, AN INNOVATION FOR SEMICONDUCTORS
In 2024, Air Liquide launched Subleem™, a new solution combining solid precursors and distribution systems for semiconductor manufacturing. Precursors are the ultra-pure materials needed to create electronic chip components, which are deposited layer by layer with extreme precision, measured to the nanometer. Our new distribution systems convert solid precursors directly and on a large scale into gas phase through sublimation, a first in the industry. Subleem™ ensures guaranteed supply, delivering an uninterrupted, reliable, and high flow of vaporized precursors during the semiconductor manufacturing process. This is especially valuable in the production of the most advanced logic and memory chips, which will be integrated in tomorrow’s electronic devices.
⟶ Nicolas Blasco, Senior Expert Electronics Technology Integration, Air Liquide
JOINING FORCES TO PRODUCE ELECTROLYZERS
Accelerating the deployment of industrial electrolyzers is indispensable to scale up the production of lowcarbon and renewable hydrogen. The gigafactory created in collaboration with Siemens Energy enables us to bring together complementary expertise for the mass production of PEM 1 modules that are needed to build electrolyzers. This enables us to scale up the development of low-carbon and renewable hydrogen production units at a competitive cost. After the inauguration of the PEM electrolyzer in Oberhausen (Germany) in 2024, this collaboration will reach a new milestone with the Air Liquide Normand'Hy project in France, which is a major contribution to the energy transition in Europe.
⟶ Marie-Khuny Khy,Product Line Director Electrolysis, Air Liquide