Industrial gases and welding products company African Oxygen (Afrox) on Wednesday announced the arrival of the German-engineered cold box for its R300-million air separation unit (ASU) at the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ), in the Eastern Cape.
The 40-m-long, 100 t ASU “heart”, which would use proprietary technology to cryogenically separate ambient air into nitrogen, oxygen and argon, was currently being transported from the Port of Ngqura to the Afrox site within the Coega IDZ.
Afrox MD Brett Kimber commented in a statement that the final phase of the project had started, with mechanical completion expected before the end of 2014.
“We are confident that the new ASU will be operational early in the new year, [which is] record time, by any standards, for a project of this size,” he noted.