The key operating locations of the Industrial Gas Companies are concentrated in heavy industry complexes, and approximately 63% of the world’s oxygen and nitrogen capacity is located within steel and chemical parks within a radius of 50 km. For instance, its 12 sets of air separation units installed in Germany’s Ruhr industrial region have a total oxygen production capacity of 1.2 million Nm³/h, and the service area covers 85 steel and chemical plants, and the transportation cost of oxygen through pipelines is as low as 0.08 euros /Nm³, which is 72% lower than canned transportation. Around China Baowu Iron and Steel Base, there are 35 sets of large air separation units of Hangoxygen and other enterprises, producing more than 15 billion cubic meters of oxygen every year, taking up 22% of China’s industrial oxygen, and energy consumption is reduced to 0.38 kWh/Nm³ with the application of residual pressure power generation technology.
The energy sector is another battleground, and Industrial Gas Companies are heavily investing in hydrogen. The green hydrogen plant built by Air Products in Saudi Arabia uses a 4 GW photovoltaic water electrolysis unit to produce 650 tons of hydrogen per day, which is exported to Japan and South Korea through ammonia carriers, and the transportation cost is compressed to $2.4 /kg, 40% lower than that of liquid hydrogen transport. Nel Hydrogen of Norway supplies 80% of Europe’s hydrogen fueling stations, and its PEM electrolyzers are able to continuously provide hydrogen with 98% purity at a pressure of 2.5 MPa and with a lifespan of 80,000 hours per unit. Dependent on Middle Eastern natural gas resources, the Blue Hydrogen plant constructed by ABU Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and France’s Air Liquide has minimized carbon emissions per ton of hydrogen from 10 tons to 1.8 tons using carbon capture technology, with a yearly capacity of 500,000 tons.
The electronic and medical special gas requirement propels the sophisticated design of the region. France’s Air Liquide (Air Liquide) in the world semiconductor center – Hsinchu, Taiwan, Austin and other places to set up ultra-high purity gas factories, neon purity 99.9999%, to satisfy TSMC 5 nanocrystems’ 1,200 cubic meters per hour of argon demands. In 2022, when the Ukraine crisis broke 70% of the world’s neon supply chain, Taiyo Nippon Sanso increased its semiconductor-grade neon manufacturing capacity to 300,000 cubic meters a month with Russian alternative feedstock, and the price settled at $3,000 / cubic meter, 65% lower than the market peak. India’s INOX medical gas business covers 12,000 hospitals across the country with a liquid oxygen storage tank population density of 8.4 per 100 kilometers and an average daily peak delivery of 9,500 tons during the pandemic.
Emerging markets cause infrastructure gaps, which in turn create local operations. Industrial Gas Companies, such as African Oxygen Limited, are launching mobile nitrogen production trucks in Johannesburg, South Africa, that can supply mining companies with 99.5% pure nitrogen within 48 hours at a flow rate of 5,000 Nm³/h. Rental costs of equipment are 55% less than conventional fixed air separation. In Southeast Asia, Linde’s Hanoi, Vietnam, helium recovery plant increased the purity of purified helium from gas field flue from 0.05% to 99.99% and yielded 2 million cubic meters annually, meeting 80% of the whole region’s MRI helium deficiency for medical use. Brazil’s White Martins uses biomethane to produce hydrogen to power far-flung mining areas within the Amazon rainforest, reducing the transport circle to 150 kilometers and the carbon footprint of diesel generators by 89%.
Technology-driven situations drive customized services. In the aerospace market, the U.S. Praxair has supplied liquid oxygen/methane hybrid fuel to SpaceX rocket engine testing with 99.7% combustion efficiency and ±0.001% purity error control. In the nuclear energy sector, Russia’s NPO Geliymash has supplied a helium leak detector for the Rosatom nuclear plant with a 1×10⁻⁹ Pa·m³/s detection sensitivity to ensure the Rosatom nuclear power plant operates in a safe mode for the VVER-1200 reactor. SK Materials’ South Korean hydrogen fluoride gas is used to etch Samsung 3 nanometer chips, and metal impurity content is below 0.1 ppt, and the wafer yield increased to 94.5%.
Carbon emissions-reducing policies redefine local geography. The European Union’s Carbon Border Tax (CBAM) has prompted Industrial Gas Companies to accelerate the low-carbon transition: Air France’s Blue Ammonia project at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands captures CO₂ from North Sea natural gas fields and produces urea, sequesters 1.2 million tons of carbon annually, and sells to farm customers by barge at 25 euros/ton. China Resources Gas has built 20 hydrogen refueling stations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, increased the proportion of green hydrogen in the hydrogen source from 8% in 2021 to 35% in 2023, and subsidized 5 yuan per kilogram to reduce the terminal price to 40 yuan. With India targeting the development of 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen capacity by 2030, industrial gas operators are competing in offshore wind power hydrogen production ventures in Gujarat where cell deployment price is set to decrease from current $800 /kW to $450 /kW.