BULK GASES & SYSTEMS NEWS

Industrial Gases Supplier to Build 2 Air Separation Units, Increase Bulk Production

The leading U.S. supplier of industrial, medical and specialty gases recently announced plans to build two new air separation units (ASUs), one in the Minneapolis/St Paul area, and the other in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.

Pascal Vinet, Chief Executive Officer of Airgas, Inc. and Air Liquide Executive Committee Member

Airgas, an Air Liquide company, projects that the two new ASUs will increase bulk gas production in the Midwest and Northeast and complement Airgas’ strategic independent supply network throughout the United States. The two new ASUs, along with previously announced production facilities under construction in North Carolina (on-stream late 2019) and Southern California (on-stream early 2019), will ensure access to vital supply of atmospheric gases, further enable supply chain efficiencies, bolster network reliability and provide capacity for continued growth.

“With the construction of these two new ASUs, Airgas will deliver on our Air Liquide integration strategy to grow our independent production of bulk gases, to gain efficiencies in our dynamic supply chain, and to deliver product supply reliability to our customers,” said Pascal Vinet, Chief Executive Officer of Airgas, Inc. and Air Liquide Executive Committee Member.

The new ASU near Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota will enhance the company’s gas production to serve growing needs in the Midwest, ensuring long-term reliability of supply and enabling ongoing efficiencies in support of its merchant, packaged and on-site gas customers. Permitting is ongoing and construction will begin in 2019 with operations expected to be on-stream in 2020.

In Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, a new ASU will increase Airgas’ production capabilities throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, particularly to support major bulk gas markets including Philadelphia and New York City. Airgas will build this ASU on a former industrial site to be redeveloped under Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling Program (ACT 2). Construction is underway and the ASU is slated to be on-stream in early 2020.

Each ASU will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon for use in customer applications such as food chilling and freezing, metal fabrication, blanketing and purging, and combustion enhancement. In addition, the ASUs will produce medical grade oxygen to supply to hospitals, nursing homes and research laboratories as well as food and pharmaceutical grade nitrogen.

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Industrial Gases Provider to Build World-Scale Liquid Hydrogen Plant

 

A leading industrial gases company recently announced plans to build a new liquid hydrogen plant to produce approximately 30 tons per day at its La Porte, Texas, industrial gas facility to meet increasing product demand from several customer markets, including industries which provide heat treatment.

Global hydrogen provider Air Products will draw hydrogen for the liquid hydrogen plant from Air Products’ existing Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline system network and is to be onstream in 2021.

“The investment in this new liquid hydrogen production facility in Texas will assist with meeting current customer demand, as well as capture the increased growth that we see coming from several markets,” said Marie Ffolkes, president, Americas at Air Products. “Logistically, our La Porte plant has several operational benefits which make the site selection for this new facility a good choice. We are confident with this additional capacity that we will be able to meet the projected growing liquid hydrogen needs coming from the varied industries in the United States for which a reliable source of this product is vitally important to our customers’ manufacturing operations.”.

Once liquefied at La Porte, the hydrogen will be delivered in trailers to customers in industries which provide heat treatment as well as several others including electronics, chemical and petrochemical, material handling, float glass, edible fats and oils, and utilities.

The new facility at La Porte will join Air Products’ existing hydrogen and syngas production operations, as well as an air separation unit. The liquid hydrogen plant will be connected to, and draw hydrogen from, Air Products’ Gulf Coast Pipeline (GCP), the world’s largest hydrogen plant and pipeline network system. The 600-mile pipeline span stretches from the Houston Ship Channel in Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana, and supplies customers with over 1.4 billion feet of hydrogen per day from 23 hydrogen production facilities.

 

Photo credit: Air Products. Caption: Air Products employee practices checking a pipeline valve for leaks at the company’s training site in La Porte, Tex.

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