Air Products to Produce CO2 in Wisconsin

By Jack Tobias

For the second-straight month, Air Products has announced new plans for the production of liquid carbon dioxide.

On Monday, the company -- one of the leading liquid CO2 suppliers in the nation and one of the Lehigh Valley's largest employers -- said it has signed an agreement to produce liquid CO2 in northwestern Wisconsin.

Last month, Air Products announced plans to build a liquid CO2 facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The Wisconsin agreement calls for liquid CO2 production of 250 tons per day at an established ethanol plant operated by Big River Resources Boyceville, based out of the town of Boyceville, which is between Eau Claire, Wis., to the east and St. Paul, Minn., to the west.

Air Products said it will market food- and beverage-grade liquid CO2 from the plant, which is expected to begin production early this year.

“This Boyceville project with Big River strengthens our position in the Upper Midwest with both existing and new customers,” Joe Lamack, CO2 general manager - North America Merchant Gases at Air Products, said in a news release posted on the Air Products website.

“We are excited to be working with a company like Big River that understands supply reliability to industrial customers,” Lamack added.

Jim Leiting, Big River Resources' chief operating officer, said of the agreement, “This is our first foray into working with a CO2 company at any of our ethanol plants and we are very happy to begin this collaboration with Air Products.”

Air Products has 13 liquid CO2 production plants in the United States, the release said, noting last month's agreement to produce 400 tons per day at the Council Bluffs facility.

In June, Air Products expanded its portfolio of industrial gases offerings in North America by acquiring EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products Inc. of Monroe, La. The acquisition immediately vaulted Air Products to a position among the leaders in the North American liquid CO2 market and also made Air Products a more fully integrated supplier of bulk industrial gases by increasing its competitive offering, the release said.

Liquid CO2, which Air Products already offers in its other geographic regions around the world, is an important product in markets Air Products currently serves with other merchant industrial gases. The applications for liquid CO2 are for the food, beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, oilfield services and metals fabrication industries.