Two new hydrogen filling stations in Korea

Access to sustainable mobility is a major issue to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, pollution in cities and to lower the dependency on fossil fuels. Hydrogen, used as an energy vector, is one of the solutions to meeting those challenges.

Air Liquide has just been chosen to supply two new hydrogen filling stations in Korea, designed and developed by the Group's Advanced Technologies teams.

The first station, which will supply hydrogen at a pressure of 350 bars, will be delivered in the first quarter of 2010 for the government demonstration project, led by the automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motors. It will be installed within the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), located on Jeju island. The KIER, a research and development institute for renewable energy, is one of the beneficiaries of the South-Korean government's national plan to promote the development of hydrogen energy. This station will supply the new fuel cell vehicle developed by Hyundai Motors.

The second station will be delivered in the second quarter of 2010 to the Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute (KATRI). It will include dual pressure technology developed by Air Liquide for the different types of fuel cell vehicles. It will be used to fuel a bus at a pressure of 350 bars and various cars at pressures of 350 and 700 bars. The station will be installed close to the KATRI Gyeonggi-do race track, used for testing and research to improve vehicle safety.

Based on Air Liquide's patented technologies, these hydrogen filling stations enable vehicles to fill up in less than 5 minutes in the same conditions as traditional fuels, for a driving range that can reach up to 500 kilometers for some vehicles. Over the last four years, Air Liquide has designed, built and commissioned a growing number of hydrogen filling stations. Forty six Air Liquide stations have been installed throughout the world to date. In Canada, the Vancouver and Montreal airports will install these stations to supply part of their fleet of commercial vehicles. Another station will supply the largest fleet of hydrogen buses in the world - twenty vehicles - which will be deployed during the next Vancouver Winter Olympics.

François Darchis, Senior Vice-President Air Liquide Group, in charge of R&D, Advanced Technologies and Engineering & Construction, commented: “These new installations in Korea are contributing to putting in place all the conditions required for the successful deployment of hydrogen energy in transport by 2015. They illustrate the increasing number of demonstration projects and the development of this energy vector. Air Liquide believes that it is its responsibility, as the world leader, to support the introduction of technological innovations that will help to preserve the environment. Both Energy and the Environment are growth drivers of the Air Liquide Group.”

For more information about hydrogen, Air Liquide has opened a special website: www.hydrogen-planet.com