TotalEnergies and Air Liquide collaborate in order to develop low-carbon hydrogen production in the Normandy Industrial Basin.
Namely, TotalEnergies and Air Liquide are joining forces to decarbonize hydrogen production at TotalEnergies’ Normandy platform in France.
This project will enable in time for the supply to TotalEnergies by Air Liquide of low-carbon hydrogen by relying on Air Liquide’s hydrogen network in Normandy and the implementation of a large-scale CO2 capture and storage solution (CCS).
In line with the objective of both companies to get to net zero by 2050, this ambitious project is part of a sustainable development approach which will help develop a low-carbon hydrogen ecosystem in the Axe Seine / Normandy, progressively supported by technologies such as CCS and electrolysis.
Under a long term contract agreement, Air Liquide will take over and operate the 255 tons-per-day hydrogen production unit at the TotalEnergies platform in Normandy. Connecting the unit to Air Liquide’s hydrogen network will enable to optimize its performance and, ultimately, develop the world’s first low-carbon hydrogen network.
The network already includes a hydrogen production facility in Port-Jérôme equipped with Air Liquide’s Cryocap TM carbon capture solution since 2015. Air Liquide is considering adding a large-scale unit to produce renewable hydrogen via electrolysis.
In addition, the companies will launch development studies to deploy a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to decarbonize the hydrogen produced in this unit at the Normandy platform. Air Liquide would install its Cryocap™ process to capture CO2, while TotalEnergies handle transportation and storage of the captured CO2, notably through the Northern Lights (Norway) and Aramis (Netherlands) CCS projects being developed in the North Sea.
In the long term, the implementation of these projects would reduce the carbon emissions from the unit’s hydrogen production by approximately 650,000 tons of CO2 per year by 2030.
Concluding, this cooperation between Air Liquide and TotalEnergies is aligned with their shared ambition to help decarbonize industrial operations in the “Axe Seine/Normandy”. Along with other industrial companies, the partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding announced in July 2021, to develop carbon capture and storage infrastructure in Normandy with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by up to 3 million tons per year by 2030.
