Air Liquide takes 80% stake in cryogenics business
25th September 2020
FRANCE: Cryogenic gas supplier Air Liquide has acquired 80% of the capital of the French company Cryoconcept, a specialist in low temperature dilution refrigeration.
Founded in 2000 and a spin-off from CEA (the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), Cryoconcept has 14 employees specialised in the field of very deep refrigeration using helium. The technology, which makes it possible to reach temperatures below 10mK (-273.14 °C – close to absolute zero), is essential for research in fields as varied as the detection of dark matter or microscopes to explore the infinitely small. It also appears particularly promising to support ongoing research projects on quantum computers.
Air Liquide says the transaction enables it to strengthen its expertise in the field of extreme, or close to absolute zero, cryogenics, to propose a broader offer and accelerate the development of Cryoconcept’s activities.
Expert in extreme cryogenics for 60 years, Air Liquide designs and supplies its customers with systems for cold production, liquefaction, storage and distribution of cryogenic fluids, for applications in fields of scientific research, such as the ITER project, and in the aerospace and space fields, such as the Herschel and Planck satellites, or the Melfi space exploration program aboard the International Space Station.
