In light of the rising demand for fossil fuels, the efficient management of fossil energy sources and their environment-friendly development and exploitation must be our top priorities. Solutions and technologies from Linde offer prospects of moving beyond the problem of increasingly depleted petroleum reserves. Leveraging less harmful alternatives such as natural gas will facilitate a transition to environment-friendly energy production. In the long term, conversion to renewable energy sources is inevitable due to the limited nature of fossil fuel resources and the atmospheric pollution caused by their combustion. To ensure subsequent generations can enjoy high standards of living in an intact environment, one of the key tasks our research departments face is finding economical ways to harness renewable energies. Our efforts in this field are being focused on hydrogen, as an environment- friendly energy carrier, and on developing the closely related field of fuel cell technology. The ultimate objective is to obtain
hydrogen exclusively from renewable energy sources. As a leading industrial gas producer, we are involved in the entire hydrogen value chain – with the goal of fully exploiting this technology’s enormous potential in both the medium and the long term.
Gas to Liquid (GTL)
A new growth market for Linde Engineering is currently emerging from the increasing demand for air separation plants; these are instrumental in producing environment-friendly diesel fuel from natural gas (Gasto Liquid, GTL). Large volumes of oxygen are required in this environment-friendly technology – quantities that Linde can provide smoothly and at a low cost. The environmental benefits of GTL fuels are self-evident: compared to conventional diesel fuel from refineries, GTL primarily consists of paraffins and is virtually free of harmful aromatics, nitrogen oxides and sulfur. It therefore complies with the increasingly stringent legal requirements for fuels in North America and Europe. The popularity of GTL can also be attributed to the efforts of increasing numbers of countries to reduce their dependency on petroleum.
BOC: Sustainable energy and low or zero-carbon fuels
The world’s resources are finite and, while the need for energy is increasing, current traditional energy supplies are diminishing. The ever-increasing need to address global warming, security of energy supplies, local air quality, energy poverty and the optimal use of energy resources is creating growing pressure to produce and consume energy in ways that are more sustainable – a challenge that BOC, with its proven expertise in gas technology and logistics, is actively addressing.
BOC is working towards supplying the sustainable energy solutions of the future and has established a strong presence, participating in many collaborative demonstration projects, forming alliances, creating ventures and supporting both internal and external technology development programmes.
BOC has an active role to play in the emerging sustainable energy economy through the sourcing, manufacture and distribution of gaseous fuels, and applications technologies and equipment, engineering solutions and customer services.
BOC has a dynamic programme of initiatives in the sustainable energy arena focusing on the areas of:
- Alternative fuels – sustainable replacements for gasoline, diesel and fuel oil
- Green power – sustainable distributed generation solutions for industrial and commercial customers.
- Using gases technology to improve the efficiency of CO2 emitting industrial processes such as electricity generation, steel making and glass melting.
- Packaged energy – delivered hydrogen, LPG and other fuels to meet small-scale sustainable energy needs.