Linde has doubled its on-site industrial gas capacity serving Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar Industrial Complex in Odisha, India, Chemical Engineering reported. The expansion forms part of a long-term supply agreement between the companies and involves two air separation units acquired through a de-captivation arrangement. The units are already supplying gases to the steelmaker, rather than representing capacity still awaiting commissioning.
The newly acquired facilities provide oxygen, nitrogen and argon for Tata Steel’s iron and steel production. According to the report, the additional gas supply will help enable annual steel output at Kalinganagar to rise from 3 million tons to 8 million tons. Those figures describe the steel production increase that the gas infrastructure will support; the report does not say that Tata Steel has already reached the higher output level.
With the two units included, Linde’s oxygen capacity across the Kalinganagar region now exceeds 7,000 tons a day, Chemical Engineering reported. That figure covers the company’s total regional oxygen capacity, rather than just the newly acquired facilities. The announcement gives no separate capacity figures for nitrogen or argon, which are also being supplied to Tata Steel under the expanded arrangement.
The expansion has a role beyond the steel complex’s own requirements. Linde said the additional air separation units would also help it serve rising industrial gas demand in the regional merchant market. The facilities therefore support both its long-term supply relationship with Tata Steel and its wider industrial gas business in the surrounding region.
Moloy Banerjee, Linde’s president for ASEAN and South Asia, described the project as strengthening an established customer relationship and reinforcing the importance of industrial gases in steelmaking. He also said it increased the density of Linde’s network in an important industrial region and positioned the company to pursue further growth in India.