Feb 19 2011
Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced it will build, own, and operate a new air separation unit (ASU), a new hydrogen production facility and will make additional investment in an existing ASU and liquefier which has been producing industrial gases in Middletown, Ohio.
The new facilities, planned to be on-stream in the fourth quarter of 2012, will provide additional capacity to meet customer demand for industrial gases and merchant liquid products in the region.
“Air Products has supplied customers in Middletown and the surrounding region with on-site and merchant gases since the 1960s. This new investment shows commitment to our customers in the Midwest market, it will expand our capability to serve the area, and it provides significant modernization of our operations there,” said Wilbur Mok, vice president–Tonnage Gases North America for Air Products. Mok noted that the new facilities will replace some smaller existing operations at this location to meet the increased demand for both on-site and merchant industrial gas products.
The new ASU will have production capacity of over 700 tons per day of combined pipeline and merchant oxygen output, and total argon capacity for the site will increase. Air Products will also generate hydrogen at Middletown to meet customer requirements with its PRISM® Hydrogen Generator steam methane reformer (SMR) producing over one million cubic feet per day of hydrogen. Air Products’ on-site hydrogen product offerings were enhanced by the 2008 acquisition of this novel and patented SMR technology with flexibility to meet the varied hydrogen capacity requirements of a customer.