Since producing oxygen on an industrial scale first became possible, in the early 20th century, Air Liquide has been closely involved with the metallurgical industry, and steel production in particular. Since then, the steel and iron industry has been in constant evolution. It has undergone a series of profound changes, including:

• Rapid increases in productivity
• Major technological innovations
• Metals offering new characteristics
• New forces emerging in rapidly expanding markets
• An increasingly pressing need to reduce polluting emissions
• A greater and greater need to recycle metals.

All of these changes are creating a very high demand for oxygen, hydrogen and other gases produced by the Air Liquide Group. Industrial gas consumption in the steel industry, a major consumer, has already entered a period of double-digit growth.

Air Liquide, A Partner for All of Your Industrial Gas Requirements

The gases used to produce steel constitute Air Liquide's largest market. The group is moreover the world's leading producer of industrial gases for this market.

Today, Air Liquide can offer a wide range of gas production solutions to meet all metallurgical industry requirements, including: cryogenic production, PSA, membrane gas separation, very high and low purities, small or very large capacities, etc.

Air Liquide's local and global organization can provide metal producers with an overall solution backed by the group's combined expertise, and guarantees the same quality of service all over the world. Air Liquide also:

• Supports metallurgical companies with its local organization
• Gives them access to our global R&D; network
• Optimises their investment
• Allows them to concentrate on their core business

Air Liquide, A Partner for All of Your Uutility Requirements

Taking advantage of the gradual deregulation of the global energy industry, Air Liquide has decided to expand the range of its products and services for its largest customers. Therefore, in addition to such standard industrial gases as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen CO, the group offers various utilities such as compressed air, oxygen-enriched air, electricity, steam and demineralized water.

In 1986, the Air Liquide group decided to enter the electrical power and steam production market both directly, or in partnership with cogeneration plants, by using natural gas, blast furnace gas, heavy fuel-oil, tar and coal as fuel. Air Liquide currently produces 1200 MWh of electricity and 2000 T/h of steam all over the world. Our customers for these products are steel companies in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Air Liquide, A Pioneer in Blast Furnace Innovation

When they select Air Liquide as their preferred supplier, steel companies have access to the innovative technology of a group which has undertaken the greatest research efforts in the areas of industrial gas production, distribution and applications.

In the 1960's, two Air Liquide engineers developed a new blast-pipe for injecting pure oxygen into the molten metal. This innovation led to many new metal production processes, and many more are still to come. All contribute to discovering new production methods and new ways of improving productivity and quality while better protecting the environment.

Air Liquide has R&D; centres in Europe, the USA and Japan, all of which are dedicated to industrial gas applications.

The following innovations have proven highly successful:

• ALARC-PC, the most advanced after-burning system for electric furnaces, with customer references on 3 continents.
• A new method for producing super-heated air, based on PEBBLE HEATER technology, which considerably reduces the cost of blast furnace operation.
• ALECT, a relatively inexpensive process, which considerably reduces brown smoke emissions.
• An advanced oxidation method, which combines oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and ozone, to treat polluted effluent
• And many other applications involving steel production, foundry ladles, continuous casting, furnace reheating, etc.