Industrial and specialised gas producer Air Products South Africa broke ground at its latest capital investment in the Eastern Cape earlier this month.

The company is constructing a R300-million air separation unit (ASU) in Zone 3 of the Coega Development Corporation’s (CDC) industrial development zone (IDZ) . Building and installation will start in June and commissioning is planned for the third quarter of next year.

The new ASU is sized to cater for market expansion and demand and is the first of its kind in the Eastern Cape. It will also increase economic development opportunities in the region, says Air Products SA MD Mike Hellyar.

The ASU in the Coega IDZ will enable Air Products to directly supply its customers with industrial gases – nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide – and reduce its carbon emissions as a result of fewer trucks transporting the gases from Gauteng to the Eastern Cape.

Air Products is a member of South Africa-based investment holding company Remgro.The expansion into the Eastern Cape strengthens the company’s resolve to continue its growth path in the country.

The company selected the Coega IDZ after careful market analysis and the investment’s impact on the value chain in many industries, including the automotive, pharmaceuticals, agroprocessing and manufacturing industries, will bring security of gas supply to the region and ensure that jobs along the value chain are protected, says CDC spokesperson Ayanda Vilakazi.

“This is a catalytic investment, as it enables further investment in the Coega IDZ and in the province. “We are happy to welcome Air Products as a tenant that will service the gas needs of the broader Eastern Cape,” she says.

Air Products will design and construct a high-efficiency, high-reliability plant that produces liquid oxygen and nitrogen. The comnpany will also install a strategic product storage facility on site for critical customers in the Eastern Cape and has committed to using, as much as possible, local material and equip- ment suppliers in the construction of the ASU.