Air Liquide S.A., or Air Liquide is a Frenchmultinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, it is the world’s second largest supplier (after The Linde Group) of industrial gases by revenues and has operations in over 80 countries. It is headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. Air Liquide owned the patent for Aqua-Lung until it time-expired.
Although Air Liquide’s headquarters are located in Paris, France, it also has a major site in Japan (ALL), as well as in Houston, TX, and Newark, DE, USA. There is an emphasis on research and development (R&D) throughout the entire Air Liquide company. R&D targets the creation of not only industrial gases, but also gases that are used in products such as healthcare items, electronic chips, foods and chemicals. The major R&D groups within Air Liquide focus on analysis, bioresources (foods and chemicals), combustion, membranes, modeling, and the production of Hydrogen (H2) gas.
As of 2009, the company is ranked 484 in the Fortune Global 500.
Apeks Marine Equipment Ltd
A British manufacturer of scuba diving equipment based in Blackburn. It was founded in 1974 by Ken Ainscough and Eric Partington, the name Apeks being an anagram of their initials. It is owned by Aqualung, itself in turn a subsidiary of Air Liquide The company is best known for its diving regulators (especially for cold water use) as well as drysuit valves, which are provided to many drysuit manufacturers. Apeks equipment is used by several militaries and emergency services, including the Royal Navy.
Aqua Lung America
Originally created by La Spirotechnique by U.S. Divers, which ended as a division of Aqua Lung America when La Spirotechnique took the name of its main product.Cousteau and Gagnan first patented their invention in 1943, but they patented again in 1945, this time under different names. In France: Scaphandre Cousteau-Gagnan (Cousteau-Gagnan scuba set) or CG45 (for Cousteau-Gagnan 1945). For all English-speaking countries Cousteau coined the label “Aqua-Lung”.
Lurgi GmbH
A German engineering, construction and chemical process licensing company. The head office is located in Frankfurt am Main. Lurgi GmbH has been part of Air Liquide S. A. since 2007. Lurgi was the cable address of Metallurgische Gesellschaft founded on 5 February 1897. Its origin dates back to the technical branch of Metallgesellschaft, which had been established by Wilhelm Merton in 1881.
By the end of World War I, the company had gained a foothold in the steam and absorption business and gathered expertise in the upgrading of solid fuels and the processing of the resulting gaseous and liquid products. As a consequence of this diversification, the company divided into process-specific subsidiaries, which from 1919 traded under the name of LURGI. In 1923, they jointly moved to into offices at Gervinusstrasse, Frankfurt am Main. In order to meet the requirements of the international markets, Lurgi constituted itself as a German stock corporation in 1990. Its operating limited liability companies – chemistry, metallurgy and industry construction; energy and environmental techniques; gas- and mineral oil technics – each had their own engineering and commercial staff. In 1991, Lurgi pooled its polymer activities by taking over Zimmer AG from the British Davy-McKee AG as the fourth operating company. In 2001 Lurgi sold their metallurgical division (Lurgi Metallurgie) to Outokumpu.
Air Liquide Donates to 501c3, Air Liquide Foundation
Since its creation in 2008, the Air Liquide Foundation has been supporting research programs on the environment and healthcare, and has been contributing to local development by encouraging micro-initiatives in the regions in the world where the Group is present.
With a budget of nearly 3 million euros over five years, the Air Liquide Foundation’s ambition is to accompany projects in France and abroad.
Since its creation, the Air Liquide Foundation supports 168 projects in 42 countries:
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23 scientific research programs in the environmental and medical fields,
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145 micro-initiatives in education, micro-entrepreneurship, access to energy, disability, the social sector…
