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4 min ago 2 min read
Industrial gas major Air Liquide has announced a $350m investment to build a new air separation unit (ASU) to supply Hyundai-POSCO’s (HPLS) low-carbon steel facility in Louisiana.
Located in St. James Parish, the ASU will support a long-term agreement signed between the two companies for the supply of oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. Start-up of the plant is expected in 2028.
The investment forms part of a broader long-term strategic partnership between Air Liquide and Hyundai-POSCO to support low-carbon industrial production in the US.
Air Liquide said the project will also leverage Air Liquide’s existing gas and pipeline network along the Mississippi River.
HPLS’s steel facility will have an annual production capacity of 2.7 million tonnes, once operational in 2029. It is expected to produce 650,000 tonnes of hot-rolled coil and 2.05 million tonnes of cold-rolled coil per year.
To do this, it will utilise a direct reduction plant and electric arc furnace (EAF) process, supporting lower-carbon steel production compared with traditional blast furnace routes.
In addition to Air Liquide’s ASU, the steel facility will also receive methanol supply from Koch Methanol’s 1.7 million tonnes per annum facility in St. James.
Matthieu Giard, Executive Committee member at Air Liquide, supervising operations in the Americas, said the deal supports Air Liquide’s industrial decarbonisation strategy in the US.
“By leveraging our extensive Mississippi River infrastructure and high-efficiency technologies, we are delivering solutions…required for HPLS’s pioneering green steel production.”
