Linde commissions ASU in Punjab; doubles capacity in northern India

Linde India has started up an air separation unit (ASU) in Ludhiana, Punjab, more than doubling its total merchant capacity in the region.

The plant has a capacity of 250 metric tonnes per day, producing oxygen, nitrogen, and argon, and is located inside the Hi-Tech Cycle Valley Park at Dhanansu.

Now operational, the ASU will help meet the growing demand for medical oxygen, industrial oxygen, nitrogen, and argon from a wide range of customers in the region.

Specifically, it will benefit end-user markets across healthcare, semiconductor, steel, metals, pharmaceutical, paper, automative, and manufacturing.

Abhijit Banerjee, Managing Director of Linde India, said the plant marks another step towards making the region self-reliant for industrial gases.

He added, “Linde India’s investment in Ludhiana aligns with our strategy to consolidate our network in high growth regions. Punjab is the epicentre for multiple sectors and this investment was well supports by the government through its ‘Invest Punjab initiative.”

The investment marks Linde’s second merchant plant in northern India, with the other being location at Selaqui, Uttarakhand.

According to gasworld Business Intelligence, Linde’s ASU in Selaqui started operations in 2010 and produces around 125 tones of oxygen and nitrogen per day, in addition to six tonnes of argon per day.

Last month (September 2024), Linde India entered into a plant sale agreement with Tata Steel to buy two 1,800 tonnes per day ASUs from the company’s Kalinganagar Phase 2 expansion project.

Read more: Linde India buys two ASUs from Tata Steel 

The decision followed a competitive bidding process to find a reliable partner to manage the plant’s ASUs. The ASUs are crucial for producing industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, which are essential for steel manufacturing processes, including oxygen steelmaking.