3. The Kourou hydrogen liquefier

3.1 General

Since 1987, Air Liquide has built four turnkey hydrogen liquefiers:

• in Asia (1.5 t/d at Oita, Japan);

• in Europe (10 t/d at Waziers, France) (figure 13 );

• in the Americas (10 t/d at Bécancour, Canada and 2.3 t/d at Kourou, French Guiana).

Today, the Kourou plant supplies the liquid hydrogen used as propellant in the cryogenic stages of Ariane IV and Ariane V :

• Ariane IV carries 1.9 t of liquid hydrogen and 8.8 t of liquid oxygen;...