MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide will invest around 350 Crores Rupees (40 million euros) in a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) dedicated to Industrial Merchant activities in Kosi, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Northern India, according to BusinessWire.
This unit will have a production capacity of 350 tonnes per day, with a maximum of 300 tonnes of oxygen. Air Liquide India will build, own and operate this ASU, which is planned to start operating by the end of 2023.
The new plant will support small-and-medium sized customers of liquid and packaged gases in Northern India. It will allow Air Liquide to meet the growing demand of the automotive, metal fabrication, heat treatment, photovoltaic, and electronics industries, as well as local hospitals requiring high-purity medical gases. When commissioned, Air Liquide’s site in Kosi, where the unit will be located, will become the largest liquid gases plant in the State of Uttar Pradesh.
In line with Air Liquide’s Sustainability Objectives, which include reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, this plant has been designed to contribute to a successful energy transition by India. The new unit is indeed planned to fully operate on renewable energy by 2030.
The new ASU will contribute to Air Liquide’s expansion strategy in India, where the Group has been present for more than 30 years. It already owns and operates 4 ASUs in North & West of India and will finalize in 2022 the construction of a 5th ASU in Nagpur (West India). Air Liquide is committed to continue investing in coming years to accompany the development of India and its growing demand for sustainable solutions.
Pascal Vinet, Senior Vice President and a member of the Air Liquide Group’s Executive Committee supervising Europe Industries activities and Africa / Middle East /India hubs, said : “The construction of a new plant in Uttar Pradesh is a very important milestone for Air Liquide in India. This new significant investment will give us the ability to better serve our customers, while also investing in the long-term growth opportunities of this key State. It also shows our confidence in the sustained growth of the Indian industry. This investment is in line with Air Liquide’s Sustainable Objectives as this ASU is meant to ultimately solely run on renewable energy.”
As MRC reported earlier, Air Liquide and BASF plan to develop world largest cross-border CCS value chain. The goal is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions at the industrial cluster in the port of Antwerp. The joint project Kairos@C has been selected for funding by the European Commission through its Innovation Fund, as one of the seven large-scale projects out of more than 300 applications.
We remind that BASF aims is to electrify its production processes for basic chemicals, which are currently based on fossil fuels.
We also remind that in mid-February, BASF said it was restarting one of its steam crackers at its Ludwigshafen complex in Germany after operations were halted in December, 2021, due to a technical issue. The naphtha cracker produces ethylene and propylene, and is one of two crackers on the site. One has a production capacity of 420,000 metric tons/year, with the other"s capacity at 240,000 metric tons/year.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
Air Liquide in Benelux comprises subsidiaries active in the production, distribution, and sale of industrial and medical gases, technologies and services of the Air Liquide Group. Founded in Belgium in 1906, in the Netherlands in 1913 and in Luxembourg in 1931, Air Liquide is present in 78 countries with approximately 64,500 employees and serves more than 3.8 million customers and patients. Oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are essential small molecules for life, matter and energy. Air Liquide’s revenue amounted to more than 20 billion euros in 2020. Air Liquide is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (compartment A) and belongs to the CAC 40, EURO STOXX 50 and FTSE4Good indexes.
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