Air Liquide supplies technology to a mega hydrogen station in China

Air Liquide Houpu Hydrogen Equipment Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Air Liquide Group, has installed eight hydrogen dispenser units in the Daxing station, owned and operated by Beijing Hypower Energy Technology Ltd.

The station has a capacity of 4.8 tonnes/day and can daily refuel 600 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (cargo van, garbage truck and bus), making it the largest in the world in terms of refuelling capacity.

The station is located in Beijing and is part of a 200k square-meter International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone. Air Liquide also trained the station’s employees on the technology to ensure smooth station operation.

The demonstration zone is open to the public and aims to build an innovation ecosystem that integrates R&D, test and production related to hydrogen energy. It also includes an exhibition hall to provide to help promote hydrogen energy for the public.

China is expanding fuel cell vehicle projects in 5 priority provinces and ten major cities to support the low-carbon sustainable automobile industry. Air Liquide will play its role in helping China in hydrogen mobility and low-carbon industrial hydrogen through its technology investment in hydrogen refuelling stations to underpin the development of local low-carbon hydrogen production in key areas such as the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, as well as in the Guangdong, Hubei & Sichuan provinces.

Zha Zhiwei, Chairman of Beijing Hypower Energy Technology Ltd., said, “With its hydrogen equipment and installation service, Air Liquide Houpu has played a fundamental role in building the Daxing Hydrogen Refueling Station, the biggest in the world.”

François Abrial, Member of the Air Liquide Group’s Executive Committee supervising the Asia Pacific, said, “We are proud to contribute to the construction of the world’s largest hydrogen station by leveraging Air Liquide’s state-of-art technology.”

In a separate development, Air Liquide and Jiangsu Shagang Group, the largest private steelmaker in China, have signed a new long-term agreement for the supply of industrial gases in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, China. Air Liquide will invest around €100 million in building a world-scale Air Separation Unit (ASU) on the site, where it already operates two other ASUs. The plant will be a new source of krypton and xenon, as well as other air gases such as liquid oxygen and nitrogen. Jiangsu Shagang also aims to work with Air Liquide to explore decarbonising steel-making through technologies of hydrogen metallurgy and carbon capture.