Air Products on Wednesday acquired an air separation unit (ASU) and integrated gases liquefier in Guiyang, China, from Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical.

The ASU will produce approximately 2,000 tpd of gaseous oxygen and nitrogen to be supplied to Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical's coal to ammonia facility under long-term contract.

Liquid product will be sold predominantly to the region's industries on the merchant market, with some also being sold to Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical.

The Air Products-owned ASU and liquefier are to be onstream in October 2012.

"We look forward to strengthening the relationship with Yankuang in working with and supplying industrial gases to Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical," said Steve Jones, Air Products' China president.

Jones, a member of the company's corporate executive committee, relocated to Shanghai approximately one year ago as part of Air Products' strategy to support significant growth opportunities and accelerate the company's development in emerging markets, the company said.

"The reliable supply of large quantities of industrial gases provided by Air Products is important to the success of our growing production facility. We look forward to working together to the mutual benefit of both our companies," said Mr. Wang Xin, chairman of YK Group.

Air Products is also working with another Yankuang Group member, Shaanxi Future Energy Chemical, in Yulin, Shaanxi Province.

At that location, Air Products is constructing and will own and operate the largest on-site ASU order ever awarded to an industrial gas company, the company says.

The facility includes multiple ASU trains and will produce 12,000 tpd of oxygen and significant tonnage volumes of nitrogen and compressed dry air for Shaanxi's coal-chemical plant starting in 2014.

Guizhou Kaiyang Chemical is jointly-owned by the Yankuang Group, a Shandong provincial state-owned enterprise and one of the four largest coal mining companies in China, and the Guizhou Kailin Group, one of China's leading phosphate mining companies and producers of ammonia phosphate for use as a fertilizer.