Air Liquide is investing more than €140 million (more than 200 million Canadian dollars) to create an innovative platform for the production of low-carbon gases, including hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and argon, in Bécancour, Quebec (Canada). It will complement the world’s largest PEM electrolyser, on the same site.

This 20 MW PEM electrolyser is already up and running, producing massive quantities of green hydrogen. The infrastructure that Air Liquide is going to set up in Quebec will include a new air separation unit (ASU) producing renewable oxygen and nitrogen, as well as liquid storage capacity, connected by a local pipeline network. Paradoxically, the platform will primarily supply, under long-term contracts, customers* manufacturing battery components for electric vehicles. It should be operational in 2025.

It should be noted that Air Liquide also plans to connect its PEM electrolyser in Bécancour, enabling the recovery and valorisation of renewable oxygen from hydrogen production.

The platform will have the capacity to supply other customers near Bécancour as well as bulk clients in Eastern Canada. “Operating in Bécancour for more than 35 years, we are delighted to be able to support the development of a growing industry with a reliable and competitive low-carbon offer,” comments Matthieu Giard, CEO of the Americas Hub.

*including Ecopro CAM Canada (EcoProBM + Ford + SKO)

Do you want to learn more about Air Liquide? Then our latest 2 articles on the French company should interest you. You can read them here and there. 

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Article written by Laurent Meillaud and translated by Logan King