Limes, a new joint venture by Linde and Messer, is investing 20 million euros in a production facility in the French region of Brittany.

Limes is investing approximately 20 million euros in a production facility for industrial gases in Saint Herblain, near Nantes, France. Founded today in Paris expressly for this purpose, the new joint venture is held equally by the French subsidiaries of German industrial gas specialists Linde AG and the Messer Group GmbH. The facility will go into operation in the second quarter of 2008, creating some 20 new jobs in the Brittany region.

The air separation plant has a production capacity of 300 tons of nitrogen, oxygen and argon per day. The facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology. This makes it possible to obtain high-purity oxygen for use in lasers, nitrogen that fulfills all quality and legal requirements for use in the food industry, and argon, which is primarily used for welding. Many manufacturing companies in western France will benefit from the new source of industrial gases, which will considerably increase the supply of industrial gases available in the region.