LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. (October 2, 2000) — Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) has recently brought onstream industrial gas plants at two Bethlehem Steel Corporation (NYSE:BS) facilities. The plants, with a combined capacity of more than 600 tons per day (TPD), will produce gaseous oxygen for Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point, Md. and Steelton, Pa. manufacturing facilities.
In Sparrows Point, Md., the recently commissioned on-site plant will supply a new $60 million pulverized coal injection (PCI) facility, and increases Air Products' gaseous oxygen capacity at this location to greater than 2000 TPD. At Bethlehem Steel's subsidiary, Pennsylvania Steel Technologies, Inc., located in Steelton, Pa., Air Products has facilitated a supply conversion from traditional bulk oxygen delivered to the site, to gaseous oxygen produced on site using vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) technology. Air Products' PRISM® VSA systems use a patented high-efficiency molecular sieve to provide a reliable and cost-effective method for on-site oxygen generation.
Commenting on the new facilities, Thomas Portland, Air Products' vice president, General Industries and Metals Division, stated, "Air Products has worked diligently with Bethlehem Steel during the last few years to thoroughly understand its requirements and to identify cost-effective solutions to their industrial gas needs at both Sparrows Point and Steelton. We are encouraged by Bethlehem Steel's decision to make significant capital investments at Sparrows Point—including the 'L' furnace reline, the new cold mill, the wide slab caster and the PCI project—and are dedicated to meeting its expanding industrial gas supply requirements."
Air Products has been supplying Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point for more than 30 years. A 1998 recipient of Bethlehem Steel's Premier Supplier Award, Air Products is committed to providing cost-effective, safe and technically innovative solutions to Bethlehem Steel's current and future industrial gas needs.
"Air Products continues to be an integral part of Bethlehem Steel's efforts to become the premier steel production, services and solutions company. The partnership among our two firms has produced cost-effective approaches to managing Bethlehem Steel's industrial gas requirements," said Thomas J. Conarty, senior vice president, Bethlehem Steel.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation (www.bethsteel.com) is the nation's second largest fully integrated steel company engaged primarily in the production of steel products. The Sparrows Point Division, located near Baltimore, Md., has a raw steel production capability of 4 million tons annually with products for the construction and container industries, and steel service centers. Since 1997, Bethlehem Steel has invested more than $600 million in modernization projects at Sparrows Point. Pennsylvania Steel Technologies in Steelton, Pa., produces railroad rails, specialty blooms, flat bars and large-diameter pipe for a variety of markets including transportation, forging, machinery, gas cylinder and energy.
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (www.airproducts.com), with headquarters in eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, near Allentown, is the world's only combined gases and chemicals company. Founded nearly 60 years ago, the business has annual revenues of $5 billion and locations in more than 30 countries. Through the understanding of its 17,000 employees around the world, the company has developed lasting relationships with over 100,000 customers, and has ensured market leadership in key industry sectors globally. |
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