First industrial chair to reduce CO2 emissions

Air Liquide has initiated the first teaching and research chair on CO2 capture, transport and storage with the engineering school Mines ParisTech and the city of Le Havre.

Today, 60% of the Group’s research and development budget are directly linked to applications or activities that preserve life and the environment.

To fight against climate change, the Air Liquide research and development teams are especially involved in improving energy efficiency and developing renewable energies (hydrogen energy, photovoltaics and second-generation biofuels) and CO2 capture and storage processes.

To efficiently store CO2, the researchers have developed oxycombustion technologies (combustion using oxygen), recycling or purification to produce fumes with higher concentrations in CO2. These technologies facilitate the CO2 capture, transport and trapping in the subsoil, in this way duplicating what nature has been doing for millions of years in natural CO2 deposits. Air Liquide is already involved in several pilot projects in Europe, North America and Australia.

This teaching and research chair, signed on June 30, 2009 for an initial five-year period, will provide financing for research work conducted by students, notably through about a dozen theses. Il will also make it possible for local actors to understand the challenges and necessary control of CO2 emissions with local actors contribution.

This chair is cosigned by local partners (Grand Port Autonome of Le Havre, Communauté d’Agglomération Havranaise), university laboratories (Mines ParisTech , University of Le Havre, BRGM) and industrial partners (EDF, GDF-Suez, Lafarge).

This initiative is another example of the Group’s commitment to sustainable development and the fight against climate change.

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