Air Products Plans New Air Separation Unit in Arkansas

Industrial gases firm Air Products revealed plans Monday to build a second air separation unit (ASU) at Big River Steel LLC’s steel mill in Osceola, AR. The new facility will support Big River Steel as it expands the steel mill by supplying oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. In addition to the announcement of the ASU, Air Products also said it extended a long-term industrial gas supply contract with the steel producer. 

“Big River is a premier steel manufacturer and we are pleased to be a key contributor to their expansion plans in Osceola,” Marie Ffolkes, president of Americas at Air Products, said in a company press release. “Our ASU will be important to Big River’s operations and our expanded facility’s configuration will allow us to further enhance reliability of product supply to Big River and to increase our industrial gas supply to current and new merchant market customers.”

Once the site becomes operational in early 2021, it will feature a nameplate capacity of 250 tn/day of oxygen. The site will also produce a number of liquid products that will be sold to the merchant market in the region. 

Air Products opened its first ASU at Big River’s Osceola site in 2016. Last year, the steel manufacturer announced an expansion project at the facility that aims to boost production of electrical steel and increase its capacity for hot-rolled steel to 3.3 million tn/yr. 

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