Absolute Air Builds Air Separation Plant
The plant will open in Minneapolis in 2020 and produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon for metal fabrication and other customers in the upper Midwest U.S.
Posted: December 19, 2018
Absolute Air, LLC (Minneapolis, MN) plans to build a merchant Air Separation Plant (ASP) to serve their partners and customers in the upper Midwest area. This plant will be located on a contracted site in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. “We expect the facility to be on-stream in 2020,” stated Ned Pontious, the president of Absolute Air. The plant will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon for use in customer applications such as metal fabrication, blanketing, purging, combustion, chilling and freezing.
Absolute Air is a partnership of five locally owned independent gas and welding supply distributors, as well as the Independent Welding Distributors Cooperative (IWDC; Indianapolis, IN). The partners view the investment as a proactive move to assure an ongoing and more economical supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon against the backdrop of continuing consolidation of international industrial gas producers. The five distributors involved in the project are Mississippi Welders Supply, Toll Company, Minneapolis Oxygen, A-OX Welding Supply, and Huber Supply Company. All are located in the upper Midwest area to be served by the plant and together they represent 30 business locations with over 50,000 customers in a seven-state region.