Air Water is going to build an ASU in Kashima Plant with an investment of about 7.5 billion yen to start operation in October 2021. The plant plays the role to supply an on-site gas to the Kashima Work of Nippon Iron & Steel. As the existing facility has been aged, it was decided to renew them in order to have an cutting-edge plant instead.

It is the ninth unit that they plan to build this time, having capacities of 35,000 Nm3/h for gaseous oxygen (GO), 30,000 Nm3/h for gaseous nitrogen (GN) and 1,100 Nm3/h for argon. The production of the plant facilities will be carried out by KOBELCO AIR WATER CRYOPLANT.

At this moment they are operating the plant by the six-unit system, but are going to remove one aged plant after the start of the new plant and review the current production system of also the other five units. Therefore, the total production capacity will be improved after renewal despite the same number of the units as before.
As for argon above all, it is expected that there will be three times more deliveries. It is Air Water’s policy to respond to the growing demand by reinforcing the plant which is the largest production base of argon.
For reference, Kashima Plant also replaced the 7th unit in 2008 and the 8th unit in 2015 respectively.