Air Water started to operate regularly from October the companies’ unique compact type high-efficiency liquid plant VSU which had been under construction in Shiwa-gun, Iwate Prefecture, and inaugurated the completion ceremony at the site on 29th.

The new plant of Air Water Iwate Plant was constructed in Ohbuchi Industrial Complex of Shiwa-cho, Shiwa-gun located just in between Morioka City and Kitakami City is Air Water’s 16th unit as the VSU Series and the second one in the Tohoku Area following the one in Fukushima Ekisan (Motomiya-City). Kiyoshi Shirai, President of Air Water, who attended the completion ceremony said, “The North Tohoku Area including Iwate Prefecture is quite active with gas users like automotive industries and the participation of Toshiba’s new Kitakami plant which produces semiconductor memories. We who have not had any own liquid production base do wish to be blessed with a stable supply and saving of our transportation cost through the local production and local consumption over this area.”

The plant, having a capacity of 600Nm3/h for liquid oxygen and 1400Nm3/h for nitrogen is designed in a typical style of one package consisting of a large vacuum-insulated tank of cold box and liquid storage tanks. The total cost of construction amounts to 1.5 billion yen including the fund for land acquisition.

The total land area of the plant procured from the regional authority was 15,000m2. In addition to the VSU facility, Air Water East Japan established Air Water Iwate Branch Office. East Air Water Butsuryu (distribution) handling group’s logistics also establishes a sales office. As there remains quite a large space other than the plant in the site, President Shirai says, “We would like to utilize the space effectively for Group’s business base including energy and logistic other than the gas business.”