Linde, Tata Steel to Construct Air Separation Units in India

Technology company The Linde Group will be constructing two major air separation units at the Kalinganagar industrial complex in Odisha, India, for one of the world's largest steel manufacturers, Tata Steel. Linde will be investing €80 million in this project.

The air separation units are part of a long-term, on-site gases supply contract for a new integrated steelworks that Tata is currently building in Kalinganagar.

Each of the two new air separation plants will be capable of producing 1,200 tons of air gases per day. Once they go on stream in 2014, the units will supply gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and argon to the steelworks that Tata Steel is currently building. They will also produce liquid gases for the regional market. In a further step, Linde intends to lay an extensive network of pipelines at the Kalinganagar industrial complex in order to supply other steel producers with industrial gases in the future.

Tata's new blast furnace based steel plant is also set to go on stream in 2014. It will initially produce three million tons of steel per year. The company aims to increase capacity in the medium term to 12 million tons per year. The new steelworks is the first production facility of its kind to be built in India in 15 years.