U.S. LNG technology and equipment company Air Products has announced it will be making a significant investment to meet industry demand with increased winding capacity at its LNG equipment manufacturing facility located in Port Manatee, Florida, U.S.
The company said it expects that this increase in capacity, coupled with new proprietary innovations in fabrication methods, will enable it to improve equipment delivery schedules.
Furthermore, this investment is expected to increase Air Products’ manufacturing capacity by almost 20%. Previous expansion completed in 2019 increased the facility’s original capacity by 60%.
To note, winding is a fabrication process for the internal components of coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHE) in which layers of tubes are wound around a central mandrel.
John Palamara, Air Products’ General Manager, LNG, commented: “As the use of LNG continues to increase around the world with strong demands for clean, reliable and affordable energy, we are investing in our business to ensure we meet the needs of our customers…”
Air Products opened its LNG equipment manufacturing facility in Port Manatee in January 2014 and rolled out its first LNG heat exchanger from the facility in September 2016. The company said that, since then, over 20 CWHEs have been shipped.
In October 2019, the first plant expansion was completed, following the installation of a new LNG Equipment Test Facility (ETF).
The facility also builds other specialty cryogenic and gas processing equipment for air separation and hydrocarbons, including columns, vessels, cold boxes, prefabricated plant modules and skids.
This year, Air Products signed agreements to supply its proprietary LNG process technology and equipment to French engineering company Technip Energies for an electric-driven LNG project in China and to Sempra Infrastructure’s Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 project in Jefferson County, Texas, U.S.
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