Innovating for tomorrow  [ Return towards  Sustainable Development  ]

More than 60 % Group’s R&D budget is devoted to work on the environment and sustainable development: energy efficiency, cleaner production processes and new energies.

Teams work on new gas production technologies, innovative applications, services with high added value, etc. They focus their efforts on three main areas:

• A sustainable environment,
• Healthcare and hygiene,
• Advanced technologies.

The goals of the Group are to disseminate innovations and recognize innovators. Within five years (2005-2009), and in the largest number of areas, to file over 500 new patents, valid directly in the Group’s four main zones of operations:

• Europe,
• The United States,
• Japan,
• China.

In 2005, 2006 and 2007 with respectively 103, 108 and 152 patents filed in these four zones, the Group is definitely in line with its objective in this area.

Air Liquide is involved whether alone, in partnership with other manufacturers, or in the framework of research programs in many pilot programs and experiments.

At Lacq (southern France), Air Liquide is participating in an industrial pilot project using oxycombustion technology in existing 30 MW boilers for which Air Liquide has developed special burners. The exhaust fumes collected in this way have a higher concentration of CO₂, which can then be captured more easily and economically. The Lacq project seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of storing CO₂ in former natural underground gas deposits over the long-term, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.

Lurgi, the engineering company which joined the Group in 2007, is working on developing so-called “second-generation” biofuels. These biofuels are produced using the inedible part of plants, leaving the edible part for use as a food source. The objective is to obtain a yield of 4,000 liters of biofuel per hectare (compared to 1,200 today), dividing CO₂ emissions by 10.

Chapter sustainable development

Indicators and objectives Sustainable Development