On December 13 of 2019, Jiaxing Iwatani Industrial Gas of the Iwatani Group engaging in the production of industrial gases in Zhejiang Province announced that it would complete the second air separation unit (ASU) in the premises of the company and also build its first hydrogen plant in the city of Jiaxing. The investment in the two plants is estimated to amount to about JPY3 billion and both plants are scheduled to start operation in May 2021.

The newly built ASU will have an output capacity of 9000
m3/h. Regarding the background of the expansion, there are active investments in the advanced areas like aerospace and telecommunication fields. Consequently, the sales volume of air separation gases grew over the current production capacity 6,000m3/h of ASU namely LIN3,200m3/h, LO500m3/h, Ar80m3/h and GO/GN;1,200m3/h.

Regarding the new hydrogen plant, on the other hand, the company will recycle and purify the by-product hydrogen brought from the adjacent chemical plant which produces propylene from propane, with which the company will adopt a pressurizing process using a diaphragm-type filling compressor. The production capacity is still under consideration including the specifications of the composing equipment, according to the Public Relations Dept. of the company.

The company has so far procured and sold hydrogen from a Chinese manufacturer, but like the air separation gases the sales to the customers in the advanced area has increased. So, the company decided the investment from the viewpoint of price competition and stable supply. The supply will be made by trailers and cylinder bundles.

These product gases will be sold mostly to the East China area, which consists of one city and seven provinces (Shanghai/Shangdong, Jianngsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Taiwan). Since there are widespread industries integrated along the China largest trade port of Shanghai, they regard these places as the principal area for China’s economic growth.