Germany’s largest gases producer Messer has signed a contract to build an industrial gases plant for Hungary’s MOL Petrochemicals. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

The facility at Tiszaujvaros will provide nitrogen and instrument air for MOL’s polyols complex, which is under construction and due for start-up in 2021. The gases plant, also due online in 2021, will produce around 14,500 standard cubic meters of nitrogen and 27,000 standard cubic meters of instrument air per hour. Messer said it will be one of its larger on-site facilities in southeastern Europe.

Messer added that the company is currently building a nitrogen generator in Hungary, having installed two in Dunavarsany and Hatvan. To meet growing demand, it also has built two more carbon dioxide (CO₂) plants in the past two years at Olbo, Hungary, taking total CO₂ capacity to 120,000 t/y.

In September, six months after regaining a production base in the US, the German gases group announced it would spend nearly €35 million to build an air separation plant in Indianapolis, Indiana, underscoring its commitment to strategic expansion in the country. The plant is due online in early 2021.