Air Liquide doubles its biomethane production capacity

The growth follows the opening of facilities in the US and Europe.

Since the beginning of 2018, the Paris-based Air Liquide has commissioned three new biomethane production units, in the United States, in France, and in the United Kingdom. With these units, the company has doubled its biomethane production capacity, which now stands at 60 MW, the equivalent of 500 GWh for a full year of production.

The new biomethane plant in Mississippi is the first large-scale unit built by Air Liquide in the United States. It purifies the biogas from household waste treatment sites and transforms it into biomethane.

The two new units in Europe purify the biogas from farm waste. The company says that part of this biomethane is used for trucks fuelled by bio-NGV (natural gas for vehicles), a clean non-fossil fuel with no fine particulates emissions.

François Darchis, senior vice president at Air Liquide said: “The commissioning of these new biomethane production units, whether in the United States or in Europe, illustrates the strong growth in new markets related to the energy transition.”

In the last four years, Air Liquide has invested around 100 million euros in in biomethane production. Today, it operates ten production units around the world, designed to purify biogas in order to transform it into biomethane and inject it into the natural gas network.

Listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with approximately 65,000 employees and revenue in 2017 reaching 20.3 billion euros.