US industrial gases producer Air Products has announced plans to build a new large air separation unit (LASU) in Ulsan, South Korea, at an undisclosed investment cost. The company said the new unit is its response to increasing demand from the Korean market, driven by the refining, petrochemical, and non-ferrous metals industries, as well as the merchant gas market.

Air Products said the new plant, due on stream in 2018, will have capacity exceeding 1,750 t/d to produce gaseous and liquefied oxygen, nitrogen and argon and will meet the needs of existing and future pipeline customers in Ulsan, as well as the liquid gas market. Ulsan is a production hub for many industrial sectors, including oil refining, automobile production and shipbuilding, in addition to chemicals. The US gases producer, which has been supplying the Korean region for nearly 30 years, operates a pipeline system and gas facilities within Onsan’s large non-ferrous metals complex and Yongyeon’s petrochemical complex, both of which it said will benefit from the extra oxygen and nitrogen turned out by the new LASU.

Air Products added that the additional high-purity liquid argon, which is used in the chip manufacturing process and to maintain an ultra-clean atmosphere to protect manufacturing tools, will position it to better serve the demand driven by integrated circuit and display customers.

Earlier this month, Air Products agreed a supply deal with Chemours for the DuPont spin-off’s production site at New Johnsonville, Tennessee, USA. The gases producer will own and operate an air separation unit producing multiple industrial gases from autumn 2018 as well as supplying the chemical producer with compressed dry air and breathing air for its established titanium dioxide (TiO2) production facility.