Carburos Metálicos, a leading company in the industrial and medical gases sector in Spain that is part of the Air Products Group, is successfully carrying out the “Hydrogen Route” that allows to show the maturity of mobility solutions based on hydrogen fuel cell and its potential to decarbonize road transport with the aim of advancing in the energy transition process.
This itinerary, which throughout 2021 has traveled through the streets of Oviedo, Bilbao, Tarragona, Zaragoza, Valladolid and Cordoba, has been carried out in collaboration with the respective municipal transport companies that seek a more sustainable urban mobility, as well as different operators and bus manufacturers. This initiative, with which the company takes the lead in the development of hydrogen mobility in Spain, has served to test the operation and refueling of these vehicles in real conditions of use with passengers, as the test units have made the same journeys as their internal combustion counterparts.
To make these demonstrations possible, which have lasted several weeks in some cases, the company has moved to each of the stops along the route a portable hydrogen dispenser that allows the refueling of renewable hydrogen in a few minutes, a time similar to that of other fuels. This mobile refueling station has shown how easy it is to refuel the vehicle.
Promoting the incorporation of renewable hydrogen as an energy vector in the transport sector, both for people and goods, is one of the strategic lines of action of Carburos Metálicos, which is also working to achieve its ‘Third by ’30’ commitment to reduce by a third the intensity of its CO2 emissions by 2030.
Apart from the experience of the hydrogen route, which will continue throughout the Spanish geography during 2022, Carburos Metálicos also supplies renewable hydrogen to the hydrogen plant that has come into operation this year in the neighborhood of Manoteras (Madrid). Carburos Metálicos is part of the world’s largest hydrogen producer, the Air Products Group, which has participated in more than 250 projects related to its supply in twenty countries. It also has the world’s largest network of channeled hydrogen distribution, as well as an extensive portfolio of technological patents related to its refueling, developed over more than 15 years, so it is present throughout the value chain of this gas, from production to final supply to the vehicle. Currently, Air Products’ refueling technologies provide more than 1.5 million hydrogen refuelings per year worldwide.
Air Products is involved in hydrogen and green hydrogen megaprojects around the world using state-of-the-art production technologies. Among these is one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects located in NEOM, Saudi Arabia. The project will use renewable energy to produce green hydrogen that will be synthesized into carbon-free ammonia to be exported exclusively by Air Products to world markets, where it can be dissociated to produce green hydrogen for the transportation sector. Production is scheduled to begin in 2026.
“The ‘Hydrogen Road’ initiated by Carbures Metalliques is showing that mobility solutions based on renewable H2 are already a real alternative. Our intention in 2022 is to further expand our collaborative approach with public administrations and the private sector with the aim of creating a complete hydrogen ecosystem in our country. As part of the Air Products Group, we have the expertise to help multiple sectors of the economy on their path towards decarbonization and energy transition,” said Miquel Lope, CEO of Carburos Metálicos.
