From Lab to Plant: when innovation shapes industry

00:00 - Hydrogen is full of promise. It's powerful and can help decarbonize industry and mobility.

00:06 - But for it to be truly low-carbon, it must be produced where low-carbon or renewable energy is abundant.

00:13 - So if we want hydrogen everywhere, we need to transport it over long distances. That's where things get tricky.

00:22 - A promising solution exists: ammonia. Ammonia allows hydrogen to be transported safely in a stable molecular form.

00:31 - But to make hydrogen truly useful again, it has to be released from ammonia cleanly, safely, and efficiently. And that's the real challenge. A challenge Air Liquide's teams decided to take on.

00:47 - It all started in the lab. Air Liquide scientists got to work to release the hydrogen from the ammonia. They developed a process where the ammonia is first heated and cracked to high temperatures in a catalytic reactor to produce hydrogen and nitrogen.

01:05 - The gas is then cooled and purified until only hydrogen remains, ready for industrial use, with zero direct CO₂ emissions.

01:17 - Nicolas Ramenatte (Materials Integrity Team Leader) : Our R&D work consists in optimizing safety, but also the reliability and performance, the sustainability.

01:24 - And that's how this idea became a reality. The technology is already working today at an industrial-scale pilot plant in Antwerp, Belgium, a first of its kind. Turning an idea into a concrete solution for the energy transition.

01:43 - Felix Cock (Energy transition technology manager) : Doing this project, we will unlock new technology, a new process to deliver renewable hydrogen to our customers in chemical, petrochemical industry, and for mobility.

01:53 - And that's how innovation moves: from lab to plant.

Semiconductor manufacturing plants are growing at an unprecedented scale in the world. To produce the microchips powering the AI revolution, these fabs require an uninterrupted supply of industrial gases, essential to maintain a clean, stable, and precise manufacturing environment.

But large volumes are only half the battle. Purity matters down to the equivalent of a single drop of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. That’s why an ultra-pure, consistent gas supply is essential.

Meeting this dual demand requires highly advanced, energy-efficient air separation systems. A challenge Air Liquide’s teams decided to take on.

It all started with a robust legacy. In the 1970s, in Harima, Japan, Air Liquide developed a compact nitrogen generator for heavy industries.

But to keep pace with the rise of electronics, driven by massive investments in semiconductor technology and consumer electronics, Air Liquide teams began reshaping the technology.

They adapted cryogenic air distillation processes to develop a technology called TCN™, for Teisan Compact Nitrogen, capable of producing high-pressure nitrogen. To provide a complete, flexible, reliable, and competitive package to our customers, these plants can also produce oxygen and argon, maximizing resource efficiency.

And that’s how this compact concept evolved into an industrial reality. Today, TCN™ plants are highly standardized and automated facilities supplying reliably the world’s premier semiconductor hubs.

From lab to the plant, it’s about our teams working together to anticipate the market and delivering the best, most reliable product, exactly when our customers need it most.

From a pioneering design to standard-setting ultra-pure gas plants, Air Liquide turns engineering innovation into a must-have solution for the semiconductor industry. And that’s how innovation moves, from lab to plant.