Tomakomai Kyodo Sanso, an air separation gas producer jointly established by Air Water and Oji Paper on a 50/50 basis, completed renewal of the air separation plant which had been under construction since a long time ago and started operation on March 1. 　

The new plant consists of two production facilities of oxygen PSA and liquid gas production VSU, and has a production capacity of 1,500 Nm3/h for gaseous oxygen, 1,800 Nm3/h for liquid oxygen and 4,000 Nm3/h for liquid nitrogen (liquid product by VSU). The gaseous oxygen is supplied by pipeline to Oji Paper’s Tomakomai Plant. The liquid oxygen and nitrogen are supplied to local users in Hokkaido. The investment amounted to JPY2.9 billion. The current facility having a total capacity of 5,000 Nm3/h for liquid oxygen and nitrogen got too old with the lapse of nearly 40 years since establishment. With regard to the reason of adopting two systems of PSA and ASU, Yasushi Sogabe president of Air Water says that it is aimed to secure a thorough system for the purpose of stable supply with mutual complement. 　

For renewal, the liquid production capacity of the current plant was increased by 16% on the ground that we wanted to have sufficient readiness to respond to stop demands in Hokkaido and also to enhance inventory of products considering the geographical handicap of no easy backup from the mainland Japan to Hokkaido. Together with the renewal of plant, the company will implement reinforcement of the liquid tank (900 tons in total of liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen). In the industrial gas market of Hokkaido during a certain time of later summer a substantial spot demand for liquid nitrogen arises to produce brand edamame (literally stem beans). Thanks to the operation of the new plant, more assured stable supply can be attained and enhancement of production efficiency is expected.

As for the market related to the industrial gases in Hokkaido, on the other hand, Sogabe commented that the business of industrial machines and materials such as liquid bulk, robot, laser processor for big plants has turned out to be growing at a good pace, while there have been contributions by the Government or Hokkaido’s subsidy and the Shinkansen (bullet train) construction since last year. He says that Hokkaido Air Water’s business in 2014 was going on almost as planned.