Two French companies, Air Liquide and TotalEnergies, are developing a hydrogen ecosystem in the Normandy Region of France. The project is intended to decarbonize the production of hydrogen intended for not only industrial use but also as a fuel.
The two companies have signed an agreement in which Air Liquide will assume decarbonizing hydrogen production at TotalEnergies refinery at Gonfreville by using the Air Liquide CryoCap system. This system uses cryogenic and liquefying technologies to remove carbon dioxide produced during the TotalEnergies refining processes. The blue hydrogen produced will be entered into Air Liquide hydrogen streams, which will be made available to customers and for use as a fuel. Air Liquide is already producing decarbonized hydrogen at its plant in Port Jerome, also using the CryoCap technology to remove and store the carbon dioxide.
Both companies have indicated that they intend to build electrolysis plants to produce green hydrogen, which will be added to the Air Liquide hydrogen streams. For green hydrogen to be produced by electrolysis, renewable energy needs to be used. As it turns out, the French Government is in the process of selecting an applicant to build a wind farm off the coast of Normandy, designed to produce between 900 MW and 1,050 MW of electricity.
The French Government, as a European Union member, is an
active developer of hydrogen as a fuel. TotalEnergies
and Air Liquide also are committing substantial resources to developing hydrogen
as a fuel. These commitments could very
well create one of the first, if not the first, hydrogen ecosystems in Europe.
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