Air Products announced that it has been awarded a contract by Tangshan Guofeng Steel for the supply of industrial gases. This is the third long-term contract signed with Guofeng Steel since 2003 to supply gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and liquid argon to its steel mills in Hebei Province, China.

In addition, a new air separation unit (ASU) is to be built and is scheduled to come on-stream in late 2008. This will be the third Air Products-built ASU for Guofeng Steel, which has nine production facilities that manufacture 7 million tons of iron and steel annually. The first ASU was brought on-stream in mid-2005 and the second is expected to be operational by the end of 2007. The on-site gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and argon are used in Guofeng Steel’s blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace for iron and steel making.