Second plant in Germany
More than 20 million euros invested
Potential supplier for future hydrogen filling stations
Wiesbaden, September 7, 2005 - In Leuna (Saxony-Anhalt), one of Germany's most important sites for the chemical industry, technology group Linde erects Germany's second hydrogen liquefaction plant. Until mid of 2007 the project with an investment volume of more than 20 million euros will be put into effect in the immediate vicinity of hydrogen production plants also operated by Linde.
For Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Reitzle, President of the Executive Board and CEO of Linde AG, the new plant is an investment for future business fields: "The liquefier in Leuna ensures primarily the supply of our industrial hydrogen customers. In the long term, the plant will additionally be an important module in the future network of hydrogen filling stations to be implemented throughout Europe in the years to come. Together with our partners we currently work hard to set up this infrastructure."
Cryogenic liquid hydrogen (LH2) has a much higher storage density than gaseous hydrogen, which is why LH2 is more efficient to handle in the fields of transportation and logistics. Germany's only hydrogen liquefier up to now - also a Linde plant - is based at Ingolstadt. Today one of the main consumers is the semiconductor industry which almost entirely uses liquid hydrogen due to the very high purity. Since hydrogen will be used more extensively to fuel road vehicles, LH2 demand is expected to increase significantly in the following years.
The adjacent hydrogen production plants will supply the planned liquefier, which has a capacity of approximately 3,000 litres LH2 per hour (or approximately 5 tons LH2 per day), with the gaseous raw product via a pipeline. The hydrogen liquefied at a temperature of minus 253 degrees Celsius is pumped into LH2-container vehicles at special filling stations to be transported to the customer. The plant can be extended to double the production and storage capacities.
Linde is an international technology group, which occupies leading market positions in each of its two business segments Gas and Engineering and Material Handling. With some 41,500 employees worldwide, Linde achieved an annual turnover of around 9 billion euros in the 2004 fiscal year. The company is one of the biggest suppliers of hydrogen production facilities worldwide and has already produced a large number of hydrogen liquefaction plants, for example, in Canada, India, China and Japan. In addition, Linde equips virtually all existing LH2 filling stations.
Further information:
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Stefan Metz
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Thomas Eisenlohr
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