Air Products to Provide Hydrogen Fueling Equipment to China Energy Investment Group's First Hydrogen Fueling Station in China

SHANGHAI, March 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products APD, a world-leading industrial gases company, today announced it has signed an agreement with state-owned Shenhua New Energy Co. Ltd. (New Energy), a subsidiary of China's energy conglomerate China Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd. (China Energy), to provide two hydrogen dispensers to China Energy's first commercial hydrogen fueling station project in Rugao City of Jiangsu Province, eastern China.

Air Products' global leading and proprietary SmartFuel^® hydrogen dispenser will be supplied for the project for fueling the hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles. The fueling station is expected to be one of the largest in China in terms of fueling capacity when it becomes operational in mid-2018.

China Energy was established in November 2017 by the merger of Shenhua Group, a world-class energy company, and China's power giant China Guodian Corporation. With assets exceeding U.S. $270 billion, China Energy has set a number of world records including being the largest producer of coal, thermal power, renewable energy, and coal-to-oil and coal chemical products. Clean energy, including hydrogen, is a key focus of the Group.   

"Air Products began collaborating with Shenhua Group affiliates including the National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy in 2016 to accelerate China's hydrogen economy," said Tammy Han, vice president-Central and Western China, Industrial Gases at Air Products. "We are excited about the agreement with Shenhua New Energy which is a latest fruit of our joint efforts to develop China's hydrogen energy market. We look forward to further expanding our cooperation in hydrogen energy in the future."   

Air Products has participated in several of China's demonstration projects, such as powering the official shuttle buses for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2010 Asian Games and 2011 Shenzhen Universiade. The hydrogen fueling station in Beijing has continued to serve local vehicles since the events concluded.

As part of its efforts to support China's hydrogen energy industry, Air Products also announced it has joined the National Alliance of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell (NAHFC) organization, which was co-initiated by China Energy and officially established in Beijing in February. The alliance is a government-backed national platform to develop the hydrogen and fuel cell industry by consolidating resources and innovative technologies from key industry players and institutes. It also serves as a think-tank to form the national hydrogen energy strategy and development roadmap. As a key member in the alliance, Air Products will leverage its leading expertise in hydrogen production, storage, transportation and dispensing infrastructure to support the hydrogen energy blueprint outlined in China's 13^th Five-Year Plan.

As the leading global supplier of hydrogen to refineries to assist in producing cleaner burning transportation fuels, Air Products has rich experience in the hydrogen fueling industry. The company has been involved in over 200 hydrogen fueling projects in over 20 countries. In fact, several sites for certain hydrogen fueling applications are currently fueling at rates of over 75,000 refills per year. Use of the company's fueling technology is increasing and accounts for over 1,500,000 hydrogen fills per year. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment, and even submarines have been fueled using Air Products' technologies. Details on Air Products' hydrogen fueling station technologies can be viewed at www.airproducts.com/h2energy.

Air Products has more than 60 years of hydrogen experience and an extensive patent portfolio with over 50 patents in hydrogen dispensing technology. It provides liquid and gaseous hydrogen and a variety of enabling devices and protocols for fuel dispensing at varied pressures. Hydrogen for these stations can be delivered to a site via truck or pipeline, produced by natural gas reformation, biomass conversion, or by electrolysis, including electrolysis that is solar and wind driven.

About Air Products

Air Products APD is a world-leading Industrial Gases company in operation for over 75 years. The Company's core industrial gases business provides atmospheric and process gases and related equipment to manufacturing markets, including refining and petrochemical, metals, electronics, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment.

The Company had fiscal 2017 sales of $8.2 billion from continuing operations in 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $35 billion. Approximately 15,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from a diversity of backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the Company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2017.

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SOURCE Air Products