Air Liquide’s subsidiary Shanghai Chemical Industry Park Industrial Gases (SCIPIG). will invest over €200 million in building two hydrogen production facilities and related infrastructure in Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP).
The two plants have the potential to bring great benefit to the environment as they are planned to replace current supply from a third party gasification unit based on coal. The new facilities will feature carbon capture and recycle technology and will be connected to the Park’s existing local network. SCIPIG already operates two other hydrogen plants and four air separation units at the Park.
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The new plants will produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide for the supply to Covestro China and Shanghai Lianheng Isocyanate Company in the Park through more than 15-year-long contracts. The total hydrogen production capacity of the two units is approximately 70,000 Nm3/h. The plants will also feature units for carbon capture and recycling and the production of carbon monoxide at a 28,000 Nm3/h capacity.
The SCIPIG plants will go operational in several phases, which will begin by the end of 2023, and will be built by Air Liquide Engineering & Construction. Equipped with carbon recycle units, the facilities will avoid 350,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, or as much as the electricity emissions of 1 million households in China.
Air Liquide has played an important role in the development of SCIP since 1996. The 29,4 km2 park near the Shanghai Yangshan port hosts both local and international chemical companies.
Air Liquide announced recently it will create a joint venture between Shenergy and SCIP to use the SCIPIG-produced hydrogen to supply hydrogen refueling stations on the Yangtze River Delta and support the region’s rapidly evolving hydrogen vehicles market.
“These new investments further enhance Air Liquide’s long-term collaboration with Covestro, SLIC and Shanghai Chemical Industry Park,” said François Abrial, Member of the Air Liquide Group’s Executive Committee supervising Asia Pacific. “Leveraging our expertise in hydrogen production as well as carbon capture and utilization, the project demonstrates our capacity to bring solutions for our customers which are reliable, competitive, and beneficial to the environment. A specialist in the decarbonization of the industry, Air Liquide is proud, with this project, to support Shanghai’s ambitious climate plan.”
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