“Air Water Carbonic makes an investment to construct a new plant in Hokkaido. With Muroran Works of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal as its source of crude gas, Air Water Carbonic is going to build up a new purifying/liquefying plant using carbon dioxide (CO2) which will be capable to liquefy 120tons per day (43,800 tons per annum).

It has been feared that the flow to supply liquid CO2 and dry ice would be interrupted in Hokkaido due to the shutdown of crude oil production causing no supply of crude gas by JX Nippon Oil & Energy Muroran Refinery of the only source, from end March of 2014. According to Air Water, however, the new plant will have a replaceable production capacity equivalent to the old source of supply. Probably, crisis will be avoided. The investment for the plant amounts to 2.91 billion yen, part of which is covered by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s subsidy.

The new plant will be built up inside Muroran Works with the scheduled beginning of construction in July 2013 and completion in October 2014.

Although the schedule is not in time for the stoppage of JX Muroran Works, the supply of crude gas is well assured until the scheduled start of operation as they say. It is a drawback that the off-gas from a steel-making process has a lower purity compared with the one from a petroleum refinery. However, competitive supply of crude gas will be possible lowing to the introduction of new technology of high purity CO2.”