Air Liquide to invest €160m in hydrogen unit

Air Liquide has won a long-term contract to supply hydrogen to Neste Oil’s Renewable Diesel plant in Rotterdam, providing a new world scale production unit at an investment of around €160m.

The Rotterdam/Antwerp (the Netherlands-Belgium) basin is the largest chemical and petrochemical basin in Europe, representing 12% of the entire European refining capacity. Air Liquide has invested over €800m in the basin over the last 12 years, while the hydrogen market in the basin continues to witness sustained growth of around 20% per year.

To meet the industrial gas requirements of Neste Oil, Air Liquide is investing in a new world-scale hydrogen producing Steam Methane Reformer (SMR) unit with a production capacity of 130,000 m3/hour. The unit is due for start-up in 2011.

The new SMR unit will be designed and built by Lurgi teams who joined the group in 2007 through the acquisition by Air Liquide, while the project is the result of the new synergies developed within the Engineering and Construction division of the group.