Air Liquide - History

History

  • 1902: Georges Claude and Paul Delorme develop a process for liquefying air to separate the components. First drops of liquid air and creation of the company of the same name. Paul Delorme is the first president.
  • 1906: Launch of international expansion, first in Belgium and Italy, then also in Canada, Japan and Hong Kong.
  • 1913: Air Liquide joins the Paris Bourse.
  • 1943: Engineer Émile Gagnan (employee at Air Liquide) and lieutenant de vaisseau (ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant) Jacques-Yves Cousteau, order to Air Liquide the construction, at its factory in Boulogne-Billancourt, of two scuba sets prototypes that Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas used to shoot the underwater film Épaves (Shipwrecks), directed by Cousteau the same year. They were the first modern diving regulators.
  • 1945: After the war, Jean Delorme, second president of the Group seeks to restore roads, renovate, develop the tool industry.
  • 1946: Air Liquide founds La Spirotechnique, its own division destined to conceive and commercialize regulators and other diving equipment. The same year La Spirotechnique launches the CG45, the first modern regulator to be commercialized. The year 1946 represents thus the beginning of the popularisation of scuba diving.
  • 1957: Launch of great activity and industry networking pipes irrigating several major industrial areas in the world.
  • 1962: Launch of space adventure
  • 1986: Deployment in the USA with the acquisition of Big Three and implementation in many countries, particularly in Europe and Asia. Acquisition of SEPPIC, the French specialty chemicals company, as part of its Healthcare World Business Line.
  • 1995: Creation of Air Liquide Health: structure, teams, a gas supply medical equipment and services, fully dedicated to the medical sector, first at the hospital, then to patients' homes.
  • 1996: Acquisition of Schuelke and Mayr in Germany.
  • 2001: Acquisition of Messer Griesheim in South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, Egypt, Argentina and Brazil.
  • 2003: Creation of a joint venture with The BOC Group in Japan: Japan Air Gases, strengthening the group's presence in the Far East market.
  • 2004: Acquisition of Messer Griesheim in Germany, UK and the USA.
  • 2007: Acquisition of Linde Gas UK.
  • 2007: Acquisition of the German engineering company Lurgi, which doubles the capacity of the engineering group.
  • 2007: Acquisition of Scott Specialty Gases, LLC. in the USA, UK and Netherlands.
  • 2008: The investment company Eurazeo, which owns 5.6% since 2006 group, announces to divest its stake.

From 2005 to 2008, Air Liquide increased its hydrogen production by more than 50 percent.

In early 2008, Air Liquide entered a long term contract with Nest Oil’s Renewable Diesel Plant to supply hydrogen. Air Liquide is building a unit on Jurong Island to provide the means for the deal. They plan to turn the unit into an integrated Hydrogen Pipeline Network that will provide services to regional companies.

The station is the tenth hydrogen station built in Canada. The two companies each contributed $800,000 to construct the hydrogen station.

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