Air Water is developing a large-sized (900 tons) facility to store argon to be supplied stably in the Kita Kyushu area.

In the Kyushu District, as the onsite plant for Nippon Steel Kyushu Works (Yahata Area-Kokura) will be shut down for realignment of the blast furnace, it has been feared that the supply capacity of the argon produced regionally for market consumption may run short. Air Water is going to develop newly a large-type tank for a stable supply of argon to the area in order to make it a backup base for users in the area. For the coming delivery of liquid from October, liquid filling is ongoing now.

The place where the argon tank is newly built up is called Hibikinada Area located in the Sea Front Zone of Kita Kyushu.

On the site land of 20 thousand square meter they are planning to build up not only the said argon tank but also a VSU (to be completed in May 2021) and the filling stations of O2, N2, argon, CO2 and helium which must be transferred in connection with the closure of Kokura Plant.

Together with the planned construction of cylinder retesting and inspection facilities for liquid tank trucks, the area would become a huge base of the liquid and cylinder business to cover the North Kyushu Area after completion.

The current argon tank to which a liquid filling work is under way will turn out to be included in the outside wall tank with four liquid storage devices of a 180m3 inner capacity. The appearance nearly 20m high has the same size as that of liquid tank of VSU. It is equipped with three lines of liquid receiver and discharger. By the tank they provide a filling facility of ELNACKS (AWI’s shield gas for welding) and an analysis room dedicated to liquid argon for quality control.

Air Water of Kyushu Area was once feared to suffer a tight supply of liquid and cylinder as well as the hard procurement of argon due to the realignment of the blast furnace company of supply source. However, Air Water is headed for further expansion endeavoring to assure a stable supply in the area with the development of a large relay-tank, VSU and the latest type of cylinder filling station.