Australia: Further investment in a CO2 recovery unit

The Australian market in industrial applications for carbon dioxide, essentially fire fighting, wine making, carbonation of soft drinks, food preservation and freezing, cold chain preservation and water treatment, represents 200,000 tonnes per year and has been growing steadily by 4% annually driven by food industries and water treatment.

In this context of continuous growth in demand for industrial merchant gases for the concerned applications, Air Liquide will invest around €10 million in Australia in a carbon dioxide recovery unit.

The Air Liquide unit will re-use up to 69,000 tonnes of CO2 from the BassGas natural gas plant and be commissioned in 2010. The CO2 recovered will be purified, liquefied and recycled for commercial use instead of being directly released into the atmosphere. The unit will be based in the Gippsland region of Victoria, near the township of Lang Lang, approximately 100 km south east of Melbourne.

Jean-Pierre Duprieu, Senior Vice-President Asia Pacific and member of the Group’s Executive Committee, declared: “This new unit in Southern Australia will enable us to meet the growing needs of our customers, particularly in the environment, food, wine and beverage markets. This investment is in line with the Group’s program of targeted investments in growing markets.”