Mar 19 2009
Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced that it recently brought on-stream its third air separation facility (ASU) in Tangshan, Hebei Province, Northern China to supply oxygen, nitrogen and liquid argon to Tangshan Guofeng Steel Co Ltd and its other local customers.
Air Products was awarded three long-term industrial gas supply contracts to support the business growth plans of Guofeng Steel. With these contracts, three ASUs adjacent to the Guofeng Steel mills were built, with the first two ASUs placed on-stream in mid-2005 and at the end of 2007, respectively. The on-site gases supplied by Air Products are used in Guofeng Steel’s blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace for iron and steel making.
The new ASU was designed and built primarily by Air Products’ engineering center in Shanghai and its cryogenic manufacturing center in Caojing, near Shanghai.
Tangshan, a major industrial city in Hebei Province, is one of the leading steel production centers in Northern China. Air Products has been supplying customers in Tangshan since 1997, and is a leading gas supplier to the steel industry in Northern China. Guofeng Steel has been an Air Products’ strategic customer since 1999. The successful on-stream placement of this third ASU will support Guofeng Steel’s expansion plan for steel making.