Universal Industrial Gases, Inc: Air Separation Plant Manufacturer - Nitrogen and Oxygen Plants Supplier - Air Separation Plant and Liquefier Manufacturers

Industrial Gas Plants Manufacturer / Supplier
Oxygen Plants, Nitrogen Plants, Air Separation Plants and Merchant Liquid Plants

UIG Designs, Manufactures and Supplies Cryogenic Air Separation Plants:

Universal Industrial Gases designs, manufactures and constructs multi-product cryogenic Air Separation Units (ASU) producing nitrogen, high-purity oxygen and argon. UIG is also a manufacturer and supplier of single-product cryogenic oxygen plants and cryogenic nitrogen plants.

UIG air separation plants, nitrogen gas plants and oxygen gas plants can be supplied with stand-alone or fully integrated liquefier units to produce large quantities of liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen for in-plant use and for bulk liquid products distribution.

UIG merchant liquid products plants and "piggyback" air separation and bulk liquid production plants can produce gas and liquid nitrogen and oxygen at any specified combination of production rates by integrating appropriately sized air separation and liquid production (liquefier) modules.

Manufacturers of new cryogenic air separation plants. ASU cold boxes house heat exchangers and cryogenic distillation system components operating at very cold temperatures.

Non-cryogenic Oxygen and Nitrogen Gas Production Units:

Non-cryogenic product generators produce gaseous nitrogen or oxygen at near-ambient temperature. They can be a cost effective choice for relatively small-consumption rate gas users; in particular, those which do not require highly purified "liquid grade" product. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and membrane nitrogen production units typically make nitrogen at purities between 95 to 99.5%. Non-cryogenic oxygen plants produce product at about 90 to 93% purity and, like non-cryogenic nitrogen units, are normally most cost-effective at relatively low usage rates.

Air Compression and Drying Systems:

Compressed Dry Air Supply Systems can be supplied as stand alone systems or integrated with the front end of air separation plants.

Oxygen Plants, Nitrogen Plants, Air Separation Plants and Liquefiers

The UIG cryogenic air separation plant sales and services group designs, manufactures, sells and installs cryogenic oxygen plants, cryogenic nitrogen plants, and multi-product cryogenic air separation plants. Air separation units co-produce nitrogen, oxygen and argon. These versatile units are used to produce gases for on-site supply applications and, in conjunction with a liquefier unit, to produce liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen or distribution as bulk liquid products.

Cryogenic air separation units (ASUs), cryogenic nitrogen plants and cryogenic oxygen plants usually have the ability to produce a small percentage of the total plant product as liquid oxygen or liquid nitrogen. This capability can be useful for maintaining or rebuilding backup liquid inventories. If a plant will be located in a relatively remote area, process conditions can be optimized around maximizing production of backup liquid.

When large volumes of liquid are required to support customer operations and / or bulk merchant liquid product sales, the air separation unit can be coupled with a liquefier.

Liquefier units provide large amounts of very low temperature refrigeration, allowing some or all of the available nitrogen, oxygen and argon to be sent to storage as liquefied industrial gas products. Liquefiers can be supplied and configured as stand-alone units (which allows maximum operating flexibility for "piggyback" gas and liquid plants) or they may be fully integrated with the ASU - providing all of the refrigeration required for air separation and product liquefaction. Combining the ASU and Liquefier refrigeration generation equipment can minimize the capital cost for plants which will primarily or exclusively produce bulk liquid products (liquid nitrogen, oxygen and argon).

Typical Production Capacity Ranges - UIG Cryo Plants
Air Separation Units, Oxygen Plants, Nitrogen Plants, Product Liquefiers

Product /	Capacity	Capacity	Capacity	Capacity	Capacity	Capacity
Plant Type	STPD	MTPD	SCFH	MMSCF/ Mo	Nm³/hr	Nm³/ Month

Oxygen	100 - 900	90 - 820	100,000–900,000	75 - 660	2650 – 24,000	2,000,000 - 17,500,000
from ASU
Nitrogen	100 - 2400	90 - 2200	115,000–2,800,000	84 - 2020	3000 – 72,600	2,200,000 - 53,000,000
from ASU
Argon	3 - 45	3 - 41	2400 - 36,300	1.8 - 26.5	65 - 950	46,000 - 700,000
from ASU
LOX / LIN Bulk Liquid	100 - 950	90 - 890	110,000 - 1,100,000	83 - 800	3000 - 28,500	2,200,000 - 20,500,000

Nitrogen Plt (Cryogenic)	33 - 170	30 - 160	38,000 – 200,000	28 - 150	1000 - 1,000	730,000 - 3,800,000

Oxygen Plt (Cryogenic)	50 - 140	45 - 125	50,000 – 140,000	38 - 770	1300 – 3700	1,000,000 - 2,800,000

Click for More Information on UIG New Cryogenic Air Separation and Liquefier Offerings

Every Industrial Gas User and Plant Site is Unique

Defining the optimal industrial gas production and supply system for a particular application requires consideration of many variables. These include the number of required products (nitrogen, or oxygen, or nitrogen plus oxygen and argon), required product purities, desired range of production rates for gas supply and liquid production, required product delivery pressures, and additional considerations reflecting daily and long term variations in demand patterns and the cost of power at the site.

All gas and liquid supply systems manufactured and supplied by UIG are optimized to meet customer-specific site requirements for product purity, delivery pressure, and anticipated variations in demand for each product in a cost-effective and reliable manner.

Different Types of Plants for Different Customer Requirements

Conventional cryogenic air separation plants (and single product cryogenic nitrogen and oxygen plants) separate and purify desired products at very low temperatures, produced through a combination of compression, heat exchange, and expansion of a portion of the process gas to remove energy. Conventional air separation cycles are the most efficient way to produce large quantities of very pure products at relatively constant production rates.

When demand is not constant, when demand is relatively low, and /or when the end use does not require high purity product, alternative production cycles and processes may be a better choice.

Nitrogen Production Alternatives: For sites which use only nitrogen, at rates below about 40,000 scfh (1000 Nm³/h) the most cost effective process choice may be one of the following alternatives:

For users which need high purity product, a LIN-assist (LIN-injection) plant may be the best choice. These plants internally vaporize a small amount of liquid nitrogen drawn from the backup storage tank to provide the refrigeration required to produce the bulk of the product on-site, at low cost. These plants are typically compact modular units which can be easily erected and relocated.
If product purity in the range of 95 to 99.5% is acceptable, a nitrogen PSA plant may be a cost effective alternative to consider.
These alternative plant types tend to be most attractive when users not only have low average product consumption rates, but intermittent product usage patterns as well.

Oxygen Production Alternatives: In addition to high purity cryogenic oxygen plants, UIG can provide several alternatives when lesser product purity is acceptable.

If 95 to 96% purity is sufficient, low-purity cryogenic plants can be supplied which will provide both capital and operating cost savings versus a high-purity (99.6% or higher) oxygen plant.
When even lower purities are acceptable (typically 92 to 93% purity) and, in particular, when demand is relatively low (under 50 tpd) non-cryogenic oxygen production can be considered.
VPSA oxygen plants may be a good choice above about 30 tpd
PSA oxygen production plants may be preferred at lower rates.

Nitrogen PSA Plants, Nitrogen LIN-Assist Plants

	Capacity in	Capacity in	Capacity in	Capacity in	Capacity in	Capacity in
Plant Type	STPD	MTPD	SCFH	MMSCF/ Month	Nm³/hr	Nm³/ Month

Nitrogen Gas (PSA)	0.4 - 33	0.3 - 30	400 –38,000	0.3- 28	10 – 1000	7,300 - 730,000
Nitrogen Gas (LIN-Assist)	17 - 35	15 - 32	19,000 –40,000	14 - 29	500 – 1050	365,000 - 770,000

UIG Optimizes Overall Supply Systems

System optimization does not stop with specification of the air separation plant, or nitrogen or oxygen production unit. A fully-optimal facility design will reflect all aspects of anticipated operating conditions at the site. UIG strives to provide plant supply solutions which represent the best combination of cost and performance, as determined by customer priorities and criteria.

UIG develops complete plant designs which integrate the air separation unit (and, if included, the liquefaction system) with appropriately configured and sized auxiliary equipment such as pipeline compressors, liquid storage tanks for backup and supplementation of plant production, liquid vaporizers (ambient and, where needed, heated), elevated pressure gas storage, and bulk merchant liquid products storage and trailer loading systems. UIG provides well-optimized systems, providing operational flexibility, high operating reliability, and cost-effective operation.

Molecular sieve and DCAC systems purify air entering a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU)

Cryogenic nitrogen plant producing high purity nitrogen gas

Pre-fabricated skidded units allow rapid installation of liquid carbon dioxide production system

UIG Delivers Performance and Value

UIG all-new air separation plants, industrial oxygen plants and nitrogen plants combine competitive first cost and operating cost with efficient packaging to minimize field work and total installed cost. They incorporate superior operating characteristics and advanced control and monitoring systems that allow unattended operation and remote monitoring and control.

You can rely upon UIG to provide plants which represent the best possible value - total product supply solutions which are complete, robust, and cost-effective; and designed to accommodate your current, and expected future, production needs.

UIG Field Services: Installation - Commissioning - Customer Support

An ASU cold box module leaving fabrication shop.

The exact scope of supply for UIG equipment and services is determined by customer needs and preferences.

UIG can provide whatever is required - up to full turkey installation with training, commissioning and startup; plus ongoing operations and maintenance support.

Links to additional information on selected new plant product lines:

Cryogenic Air Separation and Liquefiers (N2, O2, Ar)	Compressed Dry Air Systems	Universal 3000 Merchant Plant
Nitrogen PSA Units (Pressure Swing Adsorption)	High Purity Nitrogen LIN-Assist Plants	Universal 8000 Merchant Plant

What Type of New Plant Is Best for My Needs?

There are many types of air separation plants available - cryogenic, non-cryogenic, single product, multi-product, high-purity, lower-purity. Which type is the best choice for a given application depends on several factors, including the product purity requirement, supply pressure requirement, maximum flow rate needed, the cost of power at the site, whether usage is continuous or not, steady or not, etc.

Our page on Production / Supply System Optimization discusses how optimal technology choices typically change when selecting new plants to make nitrogen or oxygen gas, at various combinations of flow rate and required product purity.

Note that the boundaries between optimal application regions for different types of nitrogen gas and oxygen gas plants are neither sharp nor fixed. Selection of the best type of supply approach for a given application depends on many location and application-specific factors, including anticipated power cost, pressure required and usage pattern.

UIG will work with you to define the best choice of technology, plant capacity and specific equipment to meet your particular requirements and preferences.

Universal Industrial Gases, Inc.
Universal Cryo Gas, LLC
3001 Emrick Blvd, Suite 320
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18020, USA


SIC Code 3569		NAICS Code 333999		Industrial Gas Machinery & Equipment