Air Liquide, the Paris-based chemical engineering company, inaugurated in Bécancour, Québec, the world’s largest Proton Exchange Membrane electrolyzer.
Supplied with renewable energy, this top-notch-technology electrolyzer will deliver to the growing low-carbon hydrogen demand in Canada and the United States.
The electrolyzer has a 20 MW capacity; it is equipped with Cummins technology, and it is the very first operational electrolyzer of its kind and size in the world.
Due to its proximity to the United States and its strategic location in Canada, it will help the company’s goal to expand its solutions to both country’s growing demand for low-carbon hydrogen, specifically of the transportation and mobility sectors.
It’s location will also ensure the constant and abundant input of renewable energy, from Hydro-Quebec. This unit already has increased by 50% the production capacity of Air Liquide’s hydrogen production complex in Bécancour.
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PEM electrolyzer and its environmental impact
Compared to other hydrogen production processes, the PEM will help the avoidance of nearly 27,000 tons of CO2 each year, the equivalent of taking off the road 10,000 cars each year.
In this regard, Air Liquid’s CEO, Susan Ellerbusch, said: “The fight against climate change is at the heart of the Air Liquide Group’s strategy. The inauguration of the Bécancour site in Canada marks an important step in the implementation of this strategy.”
“With this world’s first, Air Liquide confirms its commitment to the production of low-carbon hydrogen on an industrial scale and its ability to effectively deploy the related technological solutions. Hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition and the emergence of a low-carbon society,” she concluded.
Air Liquid has been a hydrogen advocate for the past decades, and over the last 50 years has developed expertise in the entire value chain of this substance. In today’s world’s it will help fight the climate change crisis as its use does not generate greenhouse gas emissions.
“Used in a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to produce electricity, emitting only water. It does not generate any pollution at the point of use: zero greenhouse gases, zero particles and zero noise. Hydrogen provides a concrete response to the challenges posed by sustainable mobility and local pollution in urban areas,” Air Liquid’s statement reads.
