2000s
2005
OXYRICH™ EXPRESS, an innovative oxygen generating technology is introduced and allows the world's shrimp farming industry to respond quickly to emergency situation where declining dissolved oxygen levels threaten the shrimp ponds.
2004
ICEFLY® machining technology, an unconventional solution for metals cutting is designed for hard-to-machine materials like titanium, hardened steels and ferrous powdered metals. The technology allows for precision cutting at rates up to 200 percent faster than other technologies.
2004
ANQUAWHITE® 100 curing agent is a novel waterborne curing agent for use in wall and floor coverings, metals coatings for bulk taks and railcars, and heavy duty maintenance coatings. It provides high resistance to stains and yellowing.
2004
Air Products cool rolling technology uses spray bars to distribute liquid nitrogen and other industrial gases at low temperature over the metal strip in final mill rolling operations. Compared with other rolling technologies there is increased productivity and improved working environment.
2004
Our lighter weight INTEGRA® cylinder with integrated valve and flow control system, together with our improved range of MAXX® gas mixtures has overturned decades of tradition in the mature welding industry. By providing faster processing at higher quality, together with improved environmental performance, the MAXX gases have reduced cost of ownership for customers, and together with the improved ergonomics of the Integra cylinder have significantly improved operator safety. This ground breaking combination of innovations was awarded the inaugural ECN Dow Corning Chemical Industry new product Innovation award 2004.
2003
New ultra high purity ammonia, White Ammonia™, provides high brightness blue, white and UV light emitting diode manufacturers improved results.
2003
OptiPattern® Surface Conditional Solution provides a breakthrough in photolithography. OptiPattern helps overcome pattern collapse caused by the capillary force of the rinse liquid during the final drying stage of the process.
2002
Development and introduction of low dielectric constant precursors for mesoporous SiO2 used in advanced electrical interconnects. These integrated circuit fabrication materials address both spin-on and CVD application processes.
2002
Airflex® EF811 introduced as a major breakthrough in the coatings industry with performance advantages of vinyl acetate-ethylene emulsions but offers costs comparable to vinyl acrylics. It is designed to allow paint formulators to meet stringent VOC standards through significantly lower solvent requirements.
2002
Air Products novel Helium Recovery and Recycle System delivers steady-state helium recovery rates in excess of 90 percent and helium purities in excess of 99.99 percent for fiber optic manufacturers.
2002
Air Products delivers its first hydrogen fueler to Honda Motor Company for their Fuel Cell Vehicle Program with the City of Los Angeles, California. The new fueler features a safe compact design, and quiet operation with no compressor.
2002
Historically, customers wanting to fill a small number of balloons for a party at home would have had to obtain pre-inflated balloons from a party shop or hire an oversized cylinder. Air Products' traditional offerings are normally used by the balloon industry but not by a customer in the domestic market. The objective of the new offering is to provide a solution that reaches the end user operating in a domestic environment without specialist knowledge. The Party Perfect™ package consists of a helium transfill unit, a quantity of portable cylinders (referred to as "Barrels"), a 300 bar helium supply and a comprehensive point-of-sale package. In providing a novel supply solution, Air Products is able to benefit from a significantly greater share of the added value, whilst the retailer is able to expand their target market. For the customer it means they can use the barrel in their own home to fill sufficient balloons for their party event.
2001
The EnviroGem® line of Gemini surfactants is launched to provide solutions for coating formulators. Being readily biodegradable these surfactants are environmentally-friendly and they have the performance attributes of other Air Products surfactants with the Gemini technology by containing two hydrophiles and two hydrophobes within a single molecule.
2001
For many years, Air Products has served the aquaculture industry. In more than 10 different countries, from trout farmers in the UK to sea bass farmers in Spain, eel farmers in Holland to shrimp farmers in Asia and the USA, Air Products has supplied liquid oxygen and oxygen gas cylinders. Through a close relationship with customers, and as a result of listening to them, a range of new VSA oxygen generators, specific to their fish farm needs was developed.
2001
Using light weight Integra® cylinders with integrated control functions has enabled Air Products to meet patient needs for oxygen therapy in their own homes, improving quality of life by removing the dependency for receiving therapy in hospital environment. Furthermore, by offering a truly portable system with sufficient autonomy that can be easily carried, has now allowed patients to undertake activities back in the community, such as shopping, gardening, visiting relatives, that they were precluded from when housebound. By extending the technology to even lighter, higher pressure composite cylinders, this even enables frail elderly and children to also benefit from this approach.
2000
Introduction of a low deposition temperature CVD precursor for silicon nitride. Use of this precursor, BTBAS, in integrated circuit fabrication results in device performance improvements.
2000
Introduction of a low deposition temperature CVD precursor for silicon nitride. Use of this precursor, BTBAS, in integrated circuit fabrication results in device performance improvements.
2000
The problem of inconsistent cylinder gas purity has been solved... Rather than use costly external purifiers, the purifier was built inside. The result: Air Products' BIP® cylinder that provides the purest possible gas for gas chromatography applications. By overturning years of traditional practice, the BIP technology now enables over 2,000 laboratories worldwide to save significantly on gases and equipment, and to enhance their analytical performance. It has been extended to other inert gases as well as larger volume supply in cylinder packs. The technology has also been licensed by other gas companies, and was awarded a UK Queen's award for Innovation 2004.
1990s
1999
Introduction of a new liquid nitrogen tunnel freezer for use in cryogenic food freezing. The Cryo-QuickTM VT freezer improves the precision in temperature control, doubles the throughput, and reduces nitrogen consumption by 20%.
1999
Air Products was one of the first materials contenders to invent and commercially introduce spin-on low dielectric polymeric coatings for use in integrated circuits. A unique family of polymers, the PAE-2 family, based on poly(arylene ether) and its derivatives, was patented and introduced to the electronics market. While other companies were supplying fluorinated polymers, PAE-2 is a non-fluorinated yet high temperature stable polymer for this application. PAE2's other unique properties (k~2.75 with frequency independence; loss tangent~0.0008) continue to make it an exciting candidate for many other electronic and coating applications requiring electrical insulation, high thermal stability and barrier properties in corrosive environments.
1998
Introduction of breakthrough technology in low-temperature refrigeration. The Closed Cycle Air Refrigeration (CCARTM) System uses high-pressure air to economically produce refrigeration at low-temperatures ranging from -60°F to -150°F, offering an environmentally friendly method of producing refrigeration.
1998
Introduction of Ca exchanged X zeolites in combination with NaX in the front ends of cryogenic air separation plants. This allows the near total removal of nitrous oxide and ethylene from the air while maintaining the capacity for carbon dioxide and other hydrocarbons which can accumulate within the heat exchangers in the plant. The new technology offers improved plant safety at reduced cost.
1997
Start-up of the world's largest oxygen plant. ASU 3 was engineered and designed in Hersham, UK, and built at Acrefair, UK.
1997
Introduction of a new process that removes heavy metal pollutants from iron foundry furnaces. The cupola dust injection process uses an oxygen and natural gas jet to remove heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and zinc, forming a glassy slag material suitable for resale in applications such as road construction.
1997
Development of a process for molding ice cream products into complex 3-dimensional shapes. CryoZAT® molding is a cryogenic molding process based on Zero Adhesion Technology, which allows ice cream products to have higher definition surface detail and exciting and novel 3D shapes.
1995
Development of technology to produce unique hybrid acrylic urethane dispersion particles. HybridurTM dispersions impart the best of both acrylic and urethane resins to a water-based coating system.
1995
The first installation of an oxygen/natural gas-based RapidfireTM heating system for a steel mill application.
1994
Commercialization of an oxygen-based mixed office wastepaper recycling technology. OxyproTM is an environmental-friendly, oxygen-based bleaching process that produces high-quality paper stock from wastes of variable composition.
1994
Development of coater-ready pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) emulsions, which do not require the use of post polymerization additives to coat low energy surfaces.
1993
Demonstration of an advanced slurry-phase version of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, which could reduce the costs of the liquid hydrocarbon product by 28%.
1993
Introduction of the first truly water-disintegrable binder for the nonwovens industry. The Airflex® 911 Dev emulsion biodegrades into water and carbon dioxide when subjected to conditions found in typical wastewater treatment facilities.
1992
Introduction of a new freezing technology for high-volume food processors. The ColdBlastTM Cryogenic Fresh Air Freezing System produces higher quality frozen food products due to low moisture loss.
1992
Introduction of a selective electrophilic fluorinating agent. Selectfluor® Fluorinating Agent is used as an intermediate in pharmaceutical manufacture for products like Flonase® nasal spray.
1991
Introduction of CupraSelectTM, a liquid precursor for the LPCVD (liquid phase chemical vapor deposition) of pure copper films for integrated circuit interconnect applications.
1991
Development and introduction of the original Cleanfire® burner for glass melting. The reliability and performance of this industry-first, low-momentum, maintenance-free oxy-fuel burner improved upon the user perception of oxy-fuel technology and accelerated implementation of the on-site oxygen supply mode in the glass industry. The principles of the original Cleanfire burner have been imitated with all currently available competitive burner technologies, however, with limited success. The Cleanfire burner line has evolved over time consistently winning comparative testing organized by industry groups and academia worldwide. After the unmatched 14 year track record, the Cleanfire burners are currently considered as the performance benchmark for glass melting applications.
1991
Introduction of a noncryogenic adsorption system that separates hydrogen and carbon monoxide into individual high-purity products.
1991
Air Products builds its first dedicated hydrogen production facility to serve oil refiners, in northern California. Today we serve many refiners and operate hydrogen plants worldwide.
1991
Demonstration of a one-step process to convert gas derived from coal into dimethyl ether (DME).
1990
Design, construction, and start-up of the world's largest polymer emulsion pressure reactor.
1990
Introduction of downflow reboilers in place of thermosiphon reboilers in cryogenic air separation plants. Downflow reboilers have yielded heat exchanger volume reductions over 40% or the ability to operate with very small temperature driving forces such as less than 1 degree Fahrenheit, which yields high thermodynamic efficiency unachievable with thermosiphon reboilers.
1980s
1980s
Development of LPMEOH (liquid phase methanol) technology, which produces methanol for fuel from syngas derived from coal gasification combined cycle (CGCC) process.
1989
Introduction of a new generation of pressure-swing adsorption units. The "Spectrum" oxygen adsorption system produced oxygen 25% more economically than previous systems.
1989
Start-up of the first waste-to-energy facility.
1989
Introduction of the PRIMAX® series of surface-modified polymer particles, which expand applications and increase service life for cast polyurethanes.
1988
Construction of the world's largest capacity membrane unit for hydrogen purification.
1987
Introduction of Freshpak® food-preserving atmospheres.
1987
Construction of the tallest distillation tower ever made.
1986
Commercialization of a new MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) process.
1986
Commercialization of EHTR, "Enhanced Heat Transfer Reformer". This is the first recuperative heat exchange reformer with a single tubesheet. It economically recovers high-grade heat from the outlet of an SMR to generate additional H2.
1986
Development of an improved method for removing the sulfur from acid gases. Claus oxygen-based process expansion (COPE®process) substantially increases the capacity of conventional Claus recovery units.
1986
Licensed technology from BASF for production of acrylic emulsion based pressure sensitive adhesives.
1985
Licensed technology from Wacker Chemie for production of vinyl emulsion powders.
1984 – 1987
Prior to the mid1980s, all industrial air separation plants utilized high-efficiency sieve trays. In 1984 Air Products laboratory tests indicated that packed columns had the potential for a step-change improvement in performance and argon recovery. In July 1985 a packed column section was installed in the LaPorte 1000 T/D plant. In 1986 the Company committed to using structured packing in the low pressure column of the 1000 T/D Rozenburg plant which started up in 1987. In 1987 the Company also filed for the first packed column patent which was granted in 1889. Additional patents followed. Since Air Products introduced packed columns into air separation, packing has become the standard in the industry.
1983
Start-up of the world's largest single-train nitrogen generator for an enhanced oil recovery project.
1983
Development of a refrigerator to cool the superconducting magnets used in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) medical diagnostics.
1983
Marketed internally developed noncryogenic gas generators.
1980
Purchased technology from Monsanto for production of ethylene-vinyl chloride emulsions.
Late 70s/early80s
Computerization of industrial gas operations optimized energy efficiency of production and distribution systems.
1970s
1978
Introduction of a process that produced impermeable plastic containers. The Airopak® process produced containers that could be substituted for metal or glass and used to package agricultural chemicals, cleaning fluids, paints, motor oil, and gasoline.
1976
The company installs the first segment of a nitrogen pipeline in the Silicon Valley in northern California to serve semiconductor manufacturers. The facility helped to establish our market leadership in electronics. We also operate a nitrogen pipeline for semiconductor companies in Arizona.
1974
Development of mixtures of nitrogen and hydrogen that could be substituted for natural gas.
1972
Design and construction of the world's largest liquid natural gas (LNG) plant.
1960s
1968
With proprietary process technology and unique equipment design, Air Products enters the LNG (liquefied natural gas) business. We have been the world market leader in process technology and heat exchangers ever since.
1967
Introduction of a breakthrough product for the adhesives industry. The Airflex® 400 emulsion later spawned a host of other superior products.
1967
Introduction of a cryogenic deflashing process. The Cryo-Trim® process removed excess material from molded rubber parts by cooling them in liquid nitrogen.
1965
Introduction of the first Cryo-Quick® food freezing tunnels, a system for freezing food using liquid nitrogen.
1963
Introduction of Cryo-Guard®, a new liquid nitrogen system for in-transit truck refrigeration.
1962
Introduction of DABCO® urethane catalysts, which were instrumental in the successful development of the urethane industry. It still continues to be the most widely used catalyst line in the world for the production of urethane foam, elastomers and coatings.
1961
Development of the Oxy-Fuel Lance, which had an oxygen-natural gas flame that speeded up scrap meltdown and refining in open-hearth furnaces.
early 1960s
Development of a number of small-scale cryogenic refrigeration systems using liquid helium, hydrogen, or neon, which were used later in the electronics and defense industries.
early 1960s
Development of the technical capability to generate, liquefy, store, and deliver fluorine.
1950s
late 50s/early60s
Design and construction of new low-pressure air separation plants which were more energy efficient.
1958
Design and construction of automated tonnage air separation plants.
1957–1959
Design and construction of three revolutionary liquid hydrogen plants for the US Air Force, known as the "three bears." These plants demonstrated liquid hydrogen could be produced, stored, and transported over large distances and in large quantities safely and reliably.
1952
Air Products establishes is first official R&D Department, bringing scattered experimental projects under the direction of one business unit.
1950s
Design and construction of liquid-oxygen generators for the U.S. Air Force and Navy for use in rocket technology.
1940s
mid-1940s
Redesign of air-fed cryogenic distillation column of gas generators to work properly on a moving ship.
mid 1940s
Air Products produced mobile oxygen generators for the U.S. Army. By the end of the war, the company had manufactured 241 generators for the war effort.
mid 1940s
Design and construction of superior mobile oxygen generators, which lowered the cost of production and operation.
early 1940s
Design of proprietary liquid pump for delivery of high pressure oxygen and/or nitrogen.
1941
Lease of Air Products' first oxygen gas generator to a small Detroit steel company.
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