The largest privately managed industrial gas specialist, Messer, and Sichuan Meifeng, a Chinese chemicals company which is listed on the stock exchange, have signed a joint venture agreement to found Sichuan Meifeng Messer Gas Products. The joint venture will invest some 7.24 million euros in producing annually around 100,000 tons of liquid carbon dioxide from industrial CO₂ waste gases. From mid-2014, Sichuan Meifeng Messer plans to supply liquid carbon dioxide and dry ice to customers from the food and beverages sector as well as the fields of manufacturing and environmental protection. Sichuan Meifeng will supply the CO₂ crude gas for liquefaction: CO₂ waste gases which occur as by-products in the production of ammonia and ammonium nitrate at Meifeng will be purified to produce food safe carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is used, for example, to freeze food or, in the form of carbonic acid, is needed for soft drinks and also for treating waste water. Messer develops and markets industrial gases and application technologies in Europe and Asia. “By converting CO₂ waste gases to a product which can be utilised in various industries, the new plant will be an outstanding example of how commercial interests and environmental protection can operate in harmony,” says Zhang Defu, Business Development Director at Messer in China. The plant is Messer’s first production plant for liquid carbon dioxide in China.