Air Liquide, a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries, will install 4 hydrogen fueling stations in Denmark. The new stations, along with the two existing ones, will make it possible to refuel a hydrogen car all over the country in under 5 minutes.
Two of the new hydrogen fueling stations will be located Copenhagen, one in Aalborg and one in Vejle. The two stations already in service are located in Copenhagen and in Holstebro. The new hydrogen fueling stations will be commissioned by Air Liquide with the help of its partner H2 Logic by the end of 2014.
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All of these filling stations will be fitted with an electrolyzer, allowing them to produce the hydrogen on site. This additional technology will produce hydrogen (with no CO2 emissions) using electricity from renewable energy sources as part of the plan announced by the Danish government in 2012, whose target is to have 100% of renewable energies by 2050.
The molecular hydrogen needed as an on-board fuel for hydrogen vehicles can be obtained through thermochemical methods utilizing natural gas, coal, liquefied petroleum gas, biomass, by a process called thermolysis, or as a microbial waste product called biohydrogen production. 95% of hydrogen is produced using natural gas. Hydrogen can also be produced from water by electrolysis (a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction) or by chemical reduction using chemical hydrides or aluminum. NREL estimates that hydrogen could be produced at by wind powered electrolysis for prices ranging from $5.55/kg in the near term to $2.27/kg in the long term. 1 kg of hydrogen is roughly equivalent to 3 kg (≈1 gal.), of petroleum in energy terms.François Darchis, member of Air Liquide’s Executive Committee supervising Innovation, commented: “The creation of a network of hydrogen filling stations in Denmark represents a significant step forward. This is the first hydrogen infrastructure network in Europe at the level of an entire country. This new project is testimony to Air Liquide’s commitment to rolling out hydrogen technologies in order to advance sustainable mobility.”