Air Liquide shows what a major hydrogen company today looks like. It may be difficult to maintain your position as gas will be an important fuel for decarbonizing the world economy, but there’s still time to find it.
The company sells around €2 billion worth of clean-burning fuel every year, primarily to oil refiners and fertilizer markets. Air Liquide is one of three global experts in producing and transporting industrial gases, alongside Linde and Air Products and Chemicals.
Hydrogen is an important future market for all three and is the central pillar of the new four-year plan outlined by Air Liquide. Half of the industrial investment by 2025 will be directed towards energy conversion, with the goal of triple hydrogen revenue by 2035. This may look like a very slow burn, but the market is in the very early stages.
According to analysts at Bernstein, the energy-dense gas could have a $2.5 trillion total addressable market by 2050. It is also assumed that hydrogen can be economically produced in a clean way and that it will be a low-emission fuel for hard-to-decarbonise industries, such as cement, steel, airlines and land haul transport.
Air Liquide predicts that buses and light commercial vehicles will be powered through hydrogen by 2025, and trucks, trains and cars will be powered by 2030. Ships and planes can take even longer. The market needs support for years, but it seems likely to get it. The recent energy shocks have tested the determination of European and Asian governments and doubled the use of hydrogen.