MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Products will build a new large air separation unit (LASU) in Ulsan, South Korea, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The investment demonstrates the company's commitment to the southern region and across Korea to meet increasing demand driven by the refining, petrochemical, and non-ferrous metals industries, as well as the merchant gas market.
Scheduled to come onstream in 2018, the 1,750 tpd LASU will produce gaseous and liquefied oxygen, nitrogen and argon. The plant will meet the increasing demand of Air Products' existing and future pipeline customers in Ulsan, as well as the liquid gas market.
Ulsan is an industrial powerhouse for the country and home to many sectors including oil refining, automobile production, and shipbuilding. Air Products has been supplying the region for nearly 30 years and has built a pipeline system and gas facilities in Onsan's large non-ferrous metals complex and Yongyeon's petrochemical complex. This latest investment will enable the company to produce extra oxygen and nitrogen to meet increasing needs. The additional high-purity liquid argon, which is used in the chip manufacturing process and to maintain an ultra-clean atmosphere to protect manufacturing tools, will position Air Products to better serve the demand driven by integrated circuit and display customers.
As MRC informed earlier, Air Products is in advanced talks to sell its performance materials operations to Evonik Industries.
Air Products has more than 50 years of hydrogen experience and an extensive patent portfolio with over 50 patents in hydrogen dispensing technology. Air Products provides liquid and gaseous hydrogen and a variety of enabling devices and protocols for fuel dispensing at varied pressures. Hydrogen for these stations can be delivered to a site via truck or pipeline, produced by natural gas reformation, biomass conversion, or by electrolysis, including electrolysis that is solar and wind driven.
MRC