Air Liquide to build ASU in South China; invests US$350 mn ASU for Louisiana steel plant

Industrial gases firm Air Liquide says it has broken ground on a new Air Separation Unit in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. The facility will produce approximately 800 tons per day of liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon for the Pearl River Delta market, in addition to its existing supply in the region, upon its expected start of operations in 2027.

The new ASU is located in the Huizhou New Materials Park, which is positioned to become a top-tier domestic base for new materials, focusing on the development of advanced synthetic materials, high-end chemicals, and frontier new materials.

Featuring the group’s latest technologies, the facility will produce high-purity liquids that will meet the stringent requirements of its customers from the semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries, while also serving the petrochemical and medical sectors. Furthermore, the plant’s energy efficiency will be at an industry-leading level, demonstrating Air Liquide’s commitment to leveraging low-carbon technologies in support of Huizhou’s sustainable development goals.

This investment marks a new milestone in Air Liquide’s expansion within the Greater Bay Area, where the Group has maintained a strong presence since the early 1990s. Today, the Group operates multiple entities across Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Maoming, Qingyuan, Foshan, and Dongguan, serving a diverse portfolio of over 2,800 customers. The new Huizhou site will further expand and optimize the Group’s supply capacity and operational reliability and efficiency across the area.

In related news, the firm has announced a US$350 million investment to build an ASU to supply Hyundai-POSCO’s (HPLS) low-carbon steel facility in Louisiana.

Located in St. James Parish, the ASU will support a long-term agreement signed between the two companies for the supply of oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. Start-up of the plant is expected in 2028.

The investment forms part of a broader long-term strategic partnership between Air Liquide and Hyundai-POSCO to support low-carbon industrial production in the US.

Air Liquide said the project will also leverage Air Liquide’s existing gas and pipeline network along the Mississippi River.

HPLS’s steel facility will have an annual production capacity of 2.7 million tonnes, once operational in 2029. It is expected to produce 650,000 tonnes of hot-rolled coil and 2.05 million tonnes of cold-rolled coil per year.

To do this, it will utilise a direct reduction plant and electric arc furnace (EAF) process, supporting lower-carbon steel production compared with traditional blast furnace routes.

In addition to Air Liquide’s ASU, the steel facility will also receive methanol supply from Koch Methanol’s 1.7 million tonnes per annum facility in St. James.