Renewable and low-carbon hydrogen is becoming a key lever for refineries and energy-intensive industries in Europe as they work to comply with the European Union’s requirements and reduce the carbon footprint of their processes.
In this context, Air Liquide is deploying a series of large electrolysis projects across major industrial basins, illustrating a progression from an initial 20 MW industrial reference to facilities designed to operate at several hundred megawatts.
TRAILBLAZER: AN INDUSTRIAL-SCALE ELECTROLYZER AND LEARNING PLATFORM IN GERMANY
Trailblazer is Air Liquide’s first 20 MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer in Europe, the second for the Group after the inauguration of Bécancour's production unit in 2021. Based in Oberhausen, in Germany, it is designed as both an industrial facility and a full-scale demonstration site. It produces renewable hydrogen for nearby industrial uses.
Beyond hydrogen production, Trailblazer functions as a platform to validate and optimize the performance of large PEM stacks. Operating data and feedback from the field are collected and shared between Air Liquide’s engineering teams and Siemens Energy, its partner in a joint venture dedicated to large-scale PEM electroyzer manufacturing.
This continuous feedback led to concrete design adjustments in subsequent projects, including changes in equipment layout, the relocation of certain components and improved integration into Air Liquide-designed structures to simplify construction and maintenance. By combining production with learning, Trailblazer illustrates Air Liquide’s “innovation in action” approach - deploying technology at scale and using each asset to improve the next.