Innovation in the production, distribution and application of industrial gases is critical to our success as well as that of our customers in our Merchant Gases business. Through the experience of our teams, we help customers use products such as argon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and helium to reduce their energy costs and improve the environmental impact of their processes.

Producing Our Gases More Efficiently

Our engineers are always looking for ways to produce gases with less energy, regardless of where we operate in the world. During the past year, work began to design and install a major new air separation plant in China that makes use of the refrigeration inherent in liquefied natural gas (LNG), an energy source used to meet the many needs of China’s growing economy. During 2007, Air Products formed a joint venture with a unit of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, one of China’s largest state-owned oil companies, to use the cold energy from LNG to produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon from air. This approach is expected to result in significant savings of both power and water compared to traditional cryogenic air separation technology. By making productive use of the refrigeration rejected during the vaporization of the LNG, the impact on the temperature of the ocean water surrounding the plant is reduced, resulting in less potential environmental stress.

Reducing Our Delivery Footprint

We have begun modifying the cryogenic trailers we use to deliver liquefied oxygen, nitrogen and argon to our North American customers by upgrading to a fuel-efficient product pumping system. This has significantly reduced NOx emissions from the pumps while reducing our fuel consumption per delivery by almost 0.5 gallons per stop. While this may not seem like a lot, it adds up over the thousands of deliveries we make each year, helping us reduce the fuel we consume and lower our emissions. In Europe, there are now new tractors in service that integrate the latest electronic monitoring systems so that the drivers can operate the vehicle in a more efficient fashion. This gives us the ability to monitor fuel consumption centrally, by driver, and implement driver training measures to reduce fuel consumption across our fleet.

Cryogenic Fine-Grinding Technologies Benefit Recycling

Manufacturers are increasingly looking to use recycled materials to make products that are more sustainable and less reliant on energy-intensive raw materials. With growing legislation, such as the UK’s Water Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, the number of recycling operations helping industries manage their waste by-products has grown dramatically. Our cryogenic fine-grinding technology enables companies to recycle materials that might otherwise find their way into landfills. By cooling scrap materials in environmentally benign liquid nitrogen, it is possible to liberate and recover the various components that make up many industrial and electronic materials today. Once separated, materials such as copper, polymers and rubber can be recovered for reuse. This approach not only reduces the amount of waste which must be landfilled, but also helps conserve scarce and energy-intensive raw materials.

Thermal Spray Cooling Reduces Waste, Energy Use for Metals

The use of thermal spray processes to restore metal parts that have worn is a common practice in the aerospace, automotive and other industries. Plasma spray guns or high-velocity oxyfuel guns use energy sources to melt special alloy powders as they are sprayed onto a worn surface, restoring it to its original dimensions. Unfortunately, tight specifications on the temperature of the parts mandate that the process must be interrupted to prevent overheating. During these interruptions, it is common for the metal and energy sources to stay engaged to facilitate rapid start-up and additional spraying once the part has cooled. Our environmentally inert cryogenic nitrogen cooling system provides precise temperature and process control, improving the properties of the final product and significantly reducing the breaks in the cycle that waste energy and materials.

Providing Clean Water

Water treatment facilities are faced with many challenges in the industrialized world. Residual materials, which can impact the taste, odor or color of water, need to be removed to ensure safety and palatability. We have developed expertise using oxygen and ozone to oxidize organic and inorganic compounds from water without leaving any harmful residual materials. Our technologies focus on lowering energy and oxygen consumption in the water treatment processes.

Improving Aluminum Recycling

The production of aluminum metal from basic raw materials is an extremely energy-intensive process. Recycling aluminum from beverage and food cans and other waste aluminum requires only 5% of the energy it takes to produce primary aluminum. We have applied our oxyfuel combustion technology to increase production rates, reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency, enabling aluminum producers to reduce their overall footprint.