Taiyo Nippon Sanso is installing a new air separation unit (ASU) in the Kimitsu Sanso Center, a joint venture formed together with Nippon Steel. The ASU will start operation from the end of June 2025. Simultaneously refining equipment for neon (Ne) and production equipment for krypton (Kr) and xenon (Xe) will also be installed using government subsidies to help abate the globally tight supply of the three rare gases in recent years and stabilize gas supply in Japan. The refining equipment is scheduled to start operation for neon in March 2026; while the production equipment for krypton and xenon in August 2025.

As previously reported, the Kimitsu Sanso Center is an onsite gas supply business company for the Kimitsu Area of Nippon Steel’s East Nippon Works. It was established in September 2022, and the ASU is operated independently by Taiyo Nippon Sanso.

The new ASU will have a production capacity of 60,000 Nm3/h of gaseous oxygen, 120,000 Nm3/h of gaseous nitrogen, and 2,100 Nm3/h of liquefied argon. Taiyo Nippon Sanso explained the reasons for investing in this new production capacity. “The main goal is to augment the current deteriorating ASUs. The new ASU will be much more energy efficient than that the current ones, which will create a cost benefit in production. Also, operation of the ASU at the Keihin Plant of the JFE Sanso Center (in Kawasaki City of Kanagawa Prefecture), a joint venture with JFE Steel that has contributed to liquefied gas production in the Kanto Region, will be stopped accompanying suspension of the blast furnace in September 2023. The new ASU is intended to help replace it as well. This investment is very important, particularly for the stable supply of argon.” As for what ASUs will stop operation when the new ASU starts, the company said, “At the current time, the ASUs are still the property of Nippon Steel, so we cannot discuss details.”

As for the rare gas equipment, two units will be installed together with the new ASU, one for neon purification (27 million l/y) and one for krypton and xenon production (Kr: 1 million l/y; Xe: 125,000 l/y). These three rare gases will be produced by separating and collecting them during cryogenic separation of the raw material air in the ASU and then purifying the collected raw material gases to make the final products. Because only small quantities of these elements are present in the atmosphere, it is necessary to separate and collect the raw gases from an ASU with a large production capacity to ensure production and efficient collection of large quantities.

Currently, Taiyo Nippon Sanso separates and collects the raw gases from ASU 5 at the Oita Sanso Center (Kr: 1 million l/y; Xe: 125,000 l/y). From April 2024, rare gas equipment installed with ASU 16 at the Fukuyama Plant of the JFE Sanso Center (Fukuyama City of Hiroshima Prefecture) will start operation (Kr: 2.6 million l/y; Xe: 210,000 l/y). The Kimitsu Sanso Center, which will become the third center, will purify neon to make the final product, but for krypton and xenon it will produce only the mixed krypton/xenon raw gas and, due to costs related to refinement and product preparation, the Oita Sanso Center will make the final products. Incidentally, previously ASU 4 at the Keihin Plant of the JFE Sanso Center also produced mixed krypton/xenon gas (which was refined at the Oita Sanso Center), but as mentioned above, the operation of the unit will be stopped when operation of the blast furnace there is stopped.

As mentioned above, this investment in the new rare gas production equipment will use a subsidy based on the Economic Security Promotion Act. This Act supports companies to ensure stable supply systems for products (called specified critical products) that would impact the economy or the everyday lives of citizens if supply was interrupted. Rare gases are essential to the manufacturing processes of semiconductors, one of the specified critical products, but they are in tight supply due to the global market expansion of semiconductors in recent years. The amount of the subsidy and the size of the investment have not been disclosed. The company says, “It was not assumed that we would use this subsidy system, but we were able to use it because the timing of the large new ASU installation and accompanying rare gas production equipment was right. As an industrial gas producer, it is our mission to provide stable gas supply to our customers, and we will continue to invest in enhancing our systems as opportunities arise.”