Air Products Wins CGA Environmental Award

Air Products' Environmental Manager Brian Keck (right) accepts the Environmental Excellence award at the annual meeting of the Compressed Gas Association.

Air Products recently received an Environmental Excellence award for the redesign of a nitrous oxide (N2O) pump. The award was presented at the annual conference of the Compressed Gas Association (CGA). The new pump provides several benefits, including a nearly 100 percent elimination of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, qualifying it for recognition in CGA’s pollution prevention category.

"Air Products’ Electronics Specialty Materials (ESM) purifies crude nitrous oxide to purity levels specified by our customers," explains environmental manager Brian Keck. "The process involved a pump to purge equipment of the gas to prevent product contamination. But the pump wasted product, caused excessive downtime, and reduced process capacity. So an Air Products team from Asia and North America developed a new pump design. The new pump provides more reliable operation, which lowers cost, while virtually eliminating product losses. This directly supports the industry goal of resource conservation and reduced GHG emissions."

For more information, contact Katie McDonald at 610-481-3673.