OREANDA-NEWS. Today Air Products, a worldwide leader in hydrogen fuelling technology, and Bohlen & Doyen, one of Germany’s leading and most capable manufacturers in the field of gaseous fuel filling station construction, installation and maintenance, announced they have signed an alliance agreement. Both companies will work together to support the further development of Europe’s burgeoning hydrogen fuelling market. The collaboration also includes the use of Air Products’ patented technology, which enables fast fuelling in line with the industry’s SAE J2601 fuelling protocol.

As part of the alliance agreement, Air Products’ will provide 700 bar SmartFuel® hydrogen fuelling station technology and the fuelling protocol license, while Bohlen & Doyen will provide the associated engineering, construction, and maintenance services to fuel retailers.

Combining the multiple strengths of both business’ will accelerate standardisation of hydrogen fuelling by offering customers the best station technology; providing low maintenance systems with high onstream availability ensuring a positive customer experience.

“Our agreement provides the next logical step in supporting the expansion of a reliable and cost effective hydrogen fuelling network in Europe; this is a crucial stage in leveraging existing infrastructure and meeting the future expectations of fuel retailers; it is a timely evolution for the European hydrogen fuelling market with the commercial roll-out of hydrogen vehicles just around the corner,” commented Diana Raine, Air Products’ European Hydrogen Energy Business Manager.

“The partnership with Air Products is an important step towards the development of the market and the expansion of our portfolio in the field of hydrogen“, commented Thorsten Kittelmann, Bohlen & Doyen’s Manager Gas Engineering, “Bohlen & Doyen is a qualified partner with substantial experience in the realisation of hydrogen injection systems. Numerous projects have been successfully completed in the last years.”

Through this agreement, Air Products’ continues to advance its technology leadership position globally. It is already the hydrogen fuelling station and technology supplier for FirstElement Fuel, Inc.’s initial network of 19 hydrogen fuelling stations being built throughout California. In Japan, the company has also signed an agreement with NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN Pipeline & Engineering Co. Ltd, which provided a strong entry point into the progressive Japanese hydrogen fuelling market.

Air Products has available a number of standardised SmartFuel® fuelling station designs incorporating modular and expandable technology and holds an entire portfolio of global patents, with additional patents pending related to “compression-less hydrogen fuelling station” advancements. The company has proven that its hydrogen infrastructure is technology ready and is successfully replicating it around the world.