Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP recently hosted a groundbreaking ceremony in Beaumont for a new state-of-the-art, energy efficient Air Separation Unit (ASU) that will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon.

The new ASU was designed to produce 2,500 tonnes per day of oxygen, 2,600 tonnes per day of nitrogen and 88 tonnes per day of liquid argon. The majority of oxygen produced will be supplied to a new world-scale methanol plant owned and operated by Natgasoline LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCI N.V.  Additional capacity will be supplied to other customers in the region via Air Liquide’s extensive pipeline network, which runs along the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana. The ASU is expected to be commissioned by the second half of 2016.

Representatives of OCI, local public officials and local community leaders joined Air Liquide for the groundbreaking ceremony at the plant site, 2366 Sulphur Plant Rd.