World premiere: Air Liquide Operates the First Pure Helium Storage Facility
27 July 2016 - 1:35AM
Business Wire
Regulatory News:
Air Liquide (Paris:AI) has just commissioned a large helium
storage facility in Gronau-Epe in the North Rhine-Westphalia
region, 120 km from Düsseldorf, Germany. This initiative will allow
Air Liquide, leader of the helium worldwide market since the Airgas
acquisition, to better answer its customers’ needs for a reliable
and predictable helium supply.
The key challenge in helium supply is to meet customer on-time
requirements, independently of the reliability of production
sources, by ensuring an optimum transport lead-time to
customers, while avoiding losses due to helium warm-up which can
occur during transport. Air Liquide’s new storage solution
addresses that challenge, by offering its customers a
service which secures their helium supply.
This new helium storage facility is a world premiere.
Pure helium is stored at 1,300 meters underground in significant
volume, in a salt reservoir managed by Air Liquide, using natural
brine to adjust the storage volume. The project has been timely
executed, notably thanks to a close cooperation with the North
Rhine - Westphalia Mining Authorities.
Air Liquide owns the right to use the cavity, operates the
facility and is able to store in Gronau-Epe more than one
year of its helium sourcing. Helium being an inert,
non-inflammable gas present in very small quantity in the air, the
storage is safe and environmentally neutral.
Air Liquide thus provides a reliable and complete helium
offer, with strategic sources, global logistics and complete
customer installations. Its helium logistics currently encompasses
one of the largest helium ISO container fleets, each
container transporting helium at -269°C - close to absolute zero -
with a fully digitalized piloting by dedicated teams in the
USA, Europe, Middle-East and Asia.
François Darchis, Senior Vice-President and member of the
Air Liquide Group Executive Committee, supervising Innovation,
said: “By leveraging its high technologies and its engineering
capabilities, Air Liquide is providing its customers with a
unique reliable helium supply chain, which takes into account their
new usages. This initiative is an illustration of the Group’s
pioneering spirit and is fully part of our customer-centric
transformation strategy. ”
HeliumHelium is a colorless,
odorless, non-flammable, inert gas, present in the air in very
small quantity, but in larger quantity in natural gas and CO2
fields where it is mainly extracted from. Helium is used in
numerous industrial sectors, including medical equipment (MRI),
electronics, aerospace engineering, fiber optics, automobiles,
metallurgy, airship lifting and breathing mixtures (deep diving,
for example).Find out more about helium
Air Liquide Maritime, part of Global Markets
& Technologies WBU, develops gas usages by offshore oil and
gas platforms, offshore wind turbines, and cryogenic transportation
by sea of high value-added molecules, such as helium.
Air Liquide is present along the entire supply chain, from
extraction with the largest helium extraction unit in Qatar, to
worldwide maritime transport and distribution. Its fleet of more
than 300 containers covering the entire world allows
transporting effectively high value-added molecules, such as
helium at temperatures, close to absolute zero. Its containers rely
on Air Liquide’s expertise in cryogenic and digital technologies
and ensure a secure and reliable supply.
The world leader in gases, technologies and services for
Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with
approximately 68,000 employees and serves more than 3 million
customers and patients*. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are
essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. They embody
Air Liquide’s scientific territory and have been at the core of the
company’s activities since its creation in 1902.
Air Liquide’s ambition is to lead its industry, deliver
long-term performance and contribute to sustainability. The
company’s customer-centric transformation strategy aims at
profitable growth over the long term. It relies on operational
excellence, selective investments, open innovation and a network
organization implemented by the Group worldwide. Through the
commitment and inventiveness of its people, Air Liquide leverages
energy and environment transition, changes in healthcare and
digitization, and delivers greater value to all its
stakeholders.
Air Liquide’s revenues amounted to €16.4 billion in 2015, and
its solutions that protect life and the environment represented
more than 40% of sales. On 23 May 2016, Air Liquide completed its
acquisition of Airgas, which had revenues amounting to $5.3 billion
(around €4.8 billion) for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2016.Air
Liquide is listed on the Paris Euronext stock exchange (compartment
A) and belongs to the CAC 40 and Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50
indexes.
* Following the acquisition of Airgas on 23 May 2016
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