Corporate News
Munich, 4 April 2014 – Technology company The Linde Group will be presenting the latest advances in eco-friendly energy carriers at HANNOVER MESSE 2014. It will be focusing in particular on hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
High demand for Linde’s hydrogen fuelling technology
This year, Linde will once again be the exclusive supplier of hydrogen for the fuel-cell cars operated by the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) in Hanover. CEP partners Daimler, GM/Opel, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen/Audi will be inviting exhibition visitors to take a test drive in their zero-emission vehicles. The cars will be refuelled with green hydrogen supplied by a mobile refuelling unit developed by Linde. The production of hydrogen from raw glycerol or biogas has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 50 and 80 per cent compared to conventional hydrogen production processes, once it has been brought onto an industrial scale.
Leading in hydrogen technology for 100 years
Linde can draw upon a long-standing and comprehensive expertise in the hydrogen sector. The company has been producing hydrogen on a large scale for its industrial customers for over a century. Around 25 years ago, Linde was one of the first companies to recognise hydrogen’s potential as a clean fuel and to invest in developing the necessary technology to be able to realise it. Today, Linde is a leading supplier of hydrogen refuelling solutions and boasts unique selling propositions such as the easy-to-maintain ionic compressor and the cryo-pump. As a founding member of influential initiatives like CEP and “H2Mobility“ Linde continues to promote hydrogen as an environmentally-friendly energy carrier. Its benefits – a large operating range combined with quick refueling – are convincing ever more companies, organisations and public institutions to bet on hydrogen.
New “HyFIVE” project gives boost to European drive for hydrogen
The latest example of the growing hydrogen following is the pan-European “HyFIVE” project, founded in London on 3 April 2014. Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London, was present when five leading car manufacturers as well as energy consultancies, gases companies, the Greater London Authority and the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU, Brussels) signed up to a EUR 38 million agreement. The partners will work on developing the technology and infrastructure that will allow hydrogen vehicles to become a viable option for motorists. As part of this programme, Linde will make its Linde Hydrogen Center (LHC) near Munich accessible to the first wave of hydrogen car drivers. Since 2006, Linde has been testing and demonstrating its latest hydrogen refuelling, measuring and control technologies at the LHC.
Another contribution to “HyFIVE” will be a new hydrogen station in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy, which Linde has built for the Institute for Innovative Technologies (IIT). The hydrogen will be produced locally via electrolysis from renewable electricity. Starting in May 2014, the station will serve five city buses and ten passenger cars operating in the region.
LNG replaces heavy oils and diesel
LNG is an economically viable bridging technology in the move towards more sustainable mobility choices. As the most environmentally friendly of all fossil fuels, LNG is a particularly attractive alternative to heavy oils or diesel for shipping and trucking companies. Driven by increasingly strict emission thresholds, demand for LNG is rising in these and other industries.
In Rotterdam, in the Netherlands – this year’s official partner country of the fair – Linde is currently assembling an LNG refuelling station for heavy goods vehicles. Linde’s customer, IDS (International Diesel Services), a division of Kuwait Petroleum International, will start supplying LNG to vehicles by mid-2014. Dual-fuel operation in trucks significantly reduces diesel consumption, thus cutting CO2 emissions by 10 to 14 per cent, sulphur oxide by 90 and nitrogen oxide by 80 per cent.
Also German shipping company AG EMS has decided to rely on LNG: the company will convert its vessel ‘MS Ostfriesland’ to LNG by mid-2014. Germany’s first LNG-powered ferry will be supplied by Bomin Linde LNG, a joint venture formed in 2012 together with ship fuels specialist Bomin. LNG terminals are planned at several locations, so that, from 2015, all German ports on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea will have a source of environmentally-friendly liquid gas.
All visitors are welcome to visit Linde’s stand in hall 27 from 7 – 11 April 2014 in Hanover. The company will be presenting a host of clean technologies – including those outlined above.
About The Linde Group
In the 2013 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 16.655 bn, making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 63,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
Under the ”Clean Technology by Linde“ label, the company offers a wide range of products and technologies that help to render renewable energy sources financially viable, and significantly slow down the depletion of fossil resources or reduce the level of CO2 emitted. This ranges from specialty gases for solar module manufacturing, industrial-scale CO2 separation and application technologies to alternative fuels and energy carriers such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.
For more information go to http://www.linde.com/cleantechnology
Further information:
Media Relations Stefan Metz |
Investor Relations Lisa Tilmann |