Hydrogen energy: Air Liquide, Challenge Bibendum technological partner

This year once again, Air Liquide is a technological partner at the Challenge Bibendum organised by Michelin, held in Shanghai November 2007.

Dedicated to clean mobility, the Challenge will be the occasion to showcase innovations for trucks, buses, cars and urban 2-wheelers, including ecological vehicles powered by hydrogen.

This technological partnership covers the installation of two hydrogen service stations, designed and developed by Air Liquide, which will supply vehicles with hydrogen in Shanghai Automobile Exhibition Center (SAEC) in Anting, from 13th to 16th November, and in Pudong on 17th .

Based on a fast-track system for delivering high pressure hydrogen (700 bar and 350 bar) Air Liquide's hydrogen stations allow drivers to "fill up" in 3 minutes, under conditions of use that are as close as possible to those encountered with a traditional fuel, giving a range of several hundred kilometres.

During the last 4 years, Air Liquide has built several hydrogen service station, in Madrid (bus fleet), Kawasaki, Luxembourg, Shanghai with a mobile station for the Michelin Challenge Bibendum, Singapore, one for a European automobile manufacturer, another for General Motors in the United States.

The Group has also a permanent demonstration station in Sassenage (France).

Hydrogen represents a fabulous potential source of renewable energy. Using hydrogen as a vector of energy is a promising alternative solution, both in environmental terms and from an economic point of view. Used in a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to produce electricity, with water as the only emission. Hydrogen can be extracted from numerous raw materials (natural gas, coal, water + electricity or even biomass, etc.). Although 95% of hydrogen is presently produced from natural gas, the multiplicity of production sources guarantees a secure supply.

As the world leader in industrial and medical gases and related services, Air Liquide started to be present in China in early 20th century, and return in the seventies by supplying air separation plants. In 1990, Air Liquide set up gas operations in Shanghai. Today, operations are mainly located in Northern and Eastern China and expanding in Western and Southern China. Air Liquide China has more than 1600 employees, and sales is more than RMB 2.3 billion Yuan. Gas and services has increased by more than 40% annually in the past years.

Air Liquide is committed to the sustainable development of the Chinese market and is serving the fast growing economy of China with its innovative technologies, products and services. Air Liquide is the leasder in growth in China with an annual investment of 1 billion Rmb per year 2004-2006 and more planned in the next years.