IAA Voices: Interview with Air Products

What does Air Products stand for and what should every IAA visitor know about the company?

At Air Products we are driven by an important ambition: working together to innovate solutions to the world’s most pressing energy and environmental challenges. As a leading global supplier of industrial gases,we develop, engineer, build, own and operate some of the world's largest industrial gas projects. Our recently announced world-scale low- and zero-carbon hydrogen projects will bring clean energy to Europe to support energy transition.

The world’s largest hydrogen producer, at the forefront of hydrogen fueling

Air Products is the world’s largest hydrogen producer, with over 60 years’ experience. We work across all facets of the hydrogen value chain – from production to distribution, storage and dispensing. We’re proud to be a first mover in large scale, clean hydrogen production. We have been a pioneer in hydrogen fuelling for decades with hands-on operating experience from over 250 hydrogen fuelling station projects in 20 countries.

Generating a cleaner future in transport and industry

By producing and distributing clean hydrogen energy solutions for use in heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles, industrial applications and energy storage, Air Products will help support the hydrogen energy transition, minimising carbon emissions and reducing reliance on finite energy resources. Hydrogen will play a crucial role in diversifying energy sources and ensuring the security of energy supply in a sustainable and responsible way.

What is the company's most important project for 2022/23?

Working in partnership, we are already creating a reality built on hydrogen for mobility – a world where hydrogen and fuel cell technology will play a central role in decarbonising heavy-duty vehicles and industry. This journey is already well underway, with buses, trucks, trains, and ships across the globe already being fueled with hydrogen produced, distributed and supplied by Air Products.

Across Europe, we will build, own and operate hydrogen refuelling stations. In Germany, we are building a high capacity hydrogen fuel station in Hürth (Cologne area). In The Netherlands, we are constructing the country’s largest hydrogen fuel station for trucks, in the Rotterdam port area.

Multiple demonstrations with hydrogen trucks, buses and trains are taking place, in partnership with local governments and partners, committed to make hydrogen a reality.

The newly designed IAA TRANSPORTATION is a platform and meeting place for transport and logistics companies from all over the world. What makes the trade fair so appealing to you?

The IAA Transportation is the ideal platform for a direct exchange with all those who want to drive forward the decarbonisation of transport. This includes manufacturers of heavy duty vehicles and buses as well as fleet managers from the transport sector who need to achieve their targets for reducing CO2 emissions. We look forward to presenting our hydrogen refuelling solutions and their benefits for truck and bus fleet operators to a wide audience at the IAA Transporation.

What can IAA visitors particularly look forward to at your stand?

Air Products offers hydrogen refuelling solutions for various fleet sizes. At the fair itself, we will be on site with our mobile hydrogen fuel station. This is suitable for use in pilot projects and demonstrations or very small fleets. We will be at the show with our international team and look forward to discuss the solutions we can provide with the visitors. We offer end-to-end solutions for all fleet sizes, from hydrogen delivery to storage and refuelling. Visitors who would like to make an appointment with one of the experts at our stand in advance can do so via our German landing page.

The coming years are all about transformation. Where will the transport and logistics industry be in 2030 - and what milestones do you want to have achieved by then?

With decades of hydrogen production and delivery expertise, we take our role in driving energy transition very seriously. We are actively pursuing hydrogen projects in Europe, complemented by export-driven projects in regions of the world where the conditions are good for the reliable production of the renewable electricity needed to make green hydrogen. An example of the latter is the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project. Scheduled to be onstream in 2026 and with an intended production of 650tH2/d or 8TWh/y, this is the leading large-scale green hydrogen project that will supply carbon-free green hydrogen to power buses and trucks around the world, eliminating 3 million tons per year of CO₂ emissions, the equivalent of emissions from over 700,000 cars. Europe has been identified as an attractive destination for a substantial proportion of the project’s production.

By 2030 we would see the world’s leading manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks offering hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as a standard part of their vehicle range. The technology will be well developed and easily accessible to end users.

First mover, renewable hydrogen projects, such as our Neom project will be fully operational and multiple new projects will be in progress. The decarbonization of heavy goods transport will be well underway.