Air Liquide and hydrogen [ Return towards Hydrogen, a clean energy carrier ]

For more than 40 years, Air Liquide has controlled the whole hydrogen chain, from production to applications. Hydrogen technologies are being developed and the Group is actively involved in two areas: innovation and real-scale demonstration programmes.

Videos

Interview of Benoît Beylier, Airstar CEO (France)

Interview of Eric Prades, Hydrogen Energy Director at Air Liquide

Interview of Laure Reinhart, OSEO CEO (France)

Innovation

In the field of innovation, almost a hundred people participate in research and development programs. In the field of hydrogen distribution, for example, the Group is developing:

effective tanks to provide vehicles with sufficient autonomy
exchangeable cartridges for small vehicles or stationary applications
distribution stations to fill up with hydrogen gas in less than five minutes, just as easily as for conventional fuels.

Through its subsidiary AXANE, the Group is developing and marketing fuel cells.

Demonstration projects

Air Liquide is a major player in numerous demonstration projects which aim to develop a sustainable hydrogen energy sector.

Air Liquide is piloting the Horizon Hydrogen Energy (H2E) project, to rapidly develop and market the first hydrogen energy applications in Europe.

In the United States, the Group supplied hydrogen distribution stations as part of the Driveway project, to test 100 hydrogen vehicles in several major cities in the country.

In Canada, Air Liquide supplied the filling stations and hydrogen to supply the vehicles used during the Vancouver Winter Olympics and it is participating in the testing of several hydrogen vehicles in the airports of Montreal and Vancouver.

Finally, the Group is coordinating Hychain Minitrans, a European project which develops fleets of small urban vehicles powered by fuel cells.

The future

Automobile manufacturers estimate that the first hydrogen vehicles will be put on the market by 2015.
The worldwide automobile park is of the order of 1 billion vehicles. To power only 1% of these vehicles with hydrogen, 20 billion m³of Hydrogen would need to be produced per year.
In 2008, Air Liquide produced 7 billion m³ of hydrogen, for revenues of 1,200 million euros.