Air Liquide: Ammonia cracking in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges
Join us for Project Features with Air Liquide, Thurs 2 April @ 9AM EDT
In November 2025, Air Liquide announced the successful start-up of its first industrial-scale ammonia cracking pilot unit at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium. The ammonia cracking pilot unit consumes around 30 tons of ammonia per day, and is based on Air Liquide’s SMR-XTM technology, introducing a counter-current helix-heat exchanger inside the reactor tubes, to improve the energy efficiency of the overall process.
Meanwhile, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is progressing with the upcoming series of ISO 19870 standards, providing guidance for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission allocation for hydrogen production, and derivatives production, storage, transport, and conversion. The Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) and Air Liquide are part of the working group developing ISO standard 19870-3, which provides guidance for GHG emission allocation for ammonia production, ammonia storage, ammonia transport, and – relevant here – ammonia cracking. ISO 19870-1 focuses on hydrogen production via various technology pathways. ISO 19870-2 focuses on hydrogen liquefaction, as well as liquid and gaseous hydrogen transport.
To discuss how Air Liquide is optimizing for successful scaling its ammonia cracking technology via its industrial-scale pilot unit in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and to discuss the upcoming series of ISO 19870 standards, Michael Lutz (Senior Innovation Process Engineer, Engineering & Technologies, Air Liquide), Laurent Prost (Head of HyCO Process Solution Development, Engineering & Technologies, Air Liquide), and Guy de Reals (Director Regulation Codes & Standards, H2 Energy, Air Liquide) will be joined in conversation by AEA Technology Manager Kevin Rouwenhorst. Join us on Thursday 2 April @ 9 AM EDT / 3PM CET for a fascinating discussion, and be sure to submit your questions for the speakers when registering.