 Subscribe to All News | Glass News | Other Feeds
23rd June 2009 – Air Products and the Abdullah Hashim Group (AHG) today announced that their joint venture, Ajwaa Gases Emirates Company LLC, has brought on stream a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) and hydrogen production facility for Emirates Float Glass Company (EFG) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The new plant, built, operated and maintained by the joint venture, is the first ‘over the fence’ gas supply in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi and one of the first in the Middle East.
Howard Castle-Smith, vice president Tonnage Gases, Equipment & Energy, Air Products Europe & Middle East, said: “We are very proud to have brought this new plant on stream to serve Emirates Float Glass, the biggest producer of float glass in the region. This project is yet another example demonstrating our ability to deliver on time and to customer’s requirements. Our worldwide experience in designing, constructing and operating ASUs, coupled with AHG’s unrivalled regional operation and back-up product supply capabilities in the gulf region, make our joint venture the partner of choice for our clients.”
“Our joint venture enables us to offer the highest standards of nitrogen and hydrogen supply, plant safety and reliability as well as product purity and power efficiency,” adds Khalid Hashim, managing director of AHG.
Howard Castle-Smith concluded: “Air Products already holds leading positions in the Middle East, in key markets such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas-to-liquids (GTL), petrochemical and refineries. EFG’s plant coming on stream demonstrates our continued commitment to the Middle East where we are together applying our core skills in many different industries and new sectors.”
Air Products built the first ever ASU in the Middle East in the 1950s and has 40 years of operating experience in the region. The company’s Middle East operation is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It has been working with the petrochemical and refinery industries for several years, building, owning and operating ASUs and hydrogen production plants. Air Products designed and built two of the world’s largest ASUs for Qatar Oryx GTL, at its site in Ras Laffan.
Air Products is the world leader in equipment for the LNG industry with eight trains currently running in the Middle East, and will commission six of the largest-ever LNG trains by end of 2010. It is also the global leader in supply of hydrogen and helium to industry – it owns and operates over 2400 kNm3/h of hydrogen production globally.Air Products has owned an operating facility in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in UAE since 1990.
The company is also pioneering new technologies, such as Ion Transport Membranes (ITM). ITM could generate savings of up to 33% in capital costs, as well as energy savings in large ASU and synthesis gas plants, compared to traditional and competitor technologies. The first 150 ton per day ITM oxygen tonnage plant will be operational in 2011 leading to larger scale up for clean energy and energy resource applications. |
|
