French industrial gas giant Air Liquide plans to invest $350 million to expand its facility in Southeast Louisiana, company officials announced Wednesday.
The project was announced alongside the formation of a strategic partnership between Air Liquide and Hyundai-Posco Louisiana — the developer of a forthcoming $5.8 billion steel mill in the state. Air Liquide would supply oxygen, nitrogen and argon to the Hyundai-Posco plant under that agreement.
Air Liquide said that it plans to add another air separation unit at its Koch Methanol facility in St. James Parish to provide those gases beginning in 2028, as well as add “network infrastructures" along the Mississippi River.
The Hyundai-Posco mill aims to provide steel for Hyundai and Kia auto factories in the Southeast. Air Liquide said that the project would provide “industry-leading reliability” for the facility, which aims to operate with lower carbon emissions than conventional steel plants.
"This partnership with HPLS reflects Air Liquide’s commitment to supporting industrial decarbonization in the U.S.,” Matthieu Giard, Air Liquide’s group vice president for the Americas and group transformation, said in the announcement. “By leveraging our extensive Mississippi River infrastructure and high-efficiency technologies, we are delivering solutions that ensure both superior reliability and the flexibility required for HPLS's pioneering green steel production.”
Air Liquide is the parent company of Airgas, the Pennsylvania gas and welding supply giant and the no. 4 company on ID’s latest Big 50 list.
