The first reference facility from Messer and HangYang supplies customers in the Balkans. The new air separators use little energy thanks to new technology.

The Messer Group and Hangzhou HangYang, a Chinese specialist for the construction of large-scale industrial gas production facilities, have successfully commissioned their first jointly-constructed air separation unit in Smederevo, Serbia. This facility primarily supplies steel producer US Steel Serbia with oxygen and nitrogen. Representing the next generation of air separation units, this facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and is extremely efficient in terms of operating costs. This ASU was built in a record time of only eleven months.

In almost all production processes, industrial gases are as essential as water and electricity. Air separation units draw in ambient air and break it down into its constituents, oxygen, nitrogen and argon. The next generation of air separators from Messer require an especially low amount of energy and so discharges the environment from CO₂ emissions.

HangYang and Messer are marketing this technology together through their joint venture, Cryogenic Engineering GmbH based in Frankfurt am Main. The company is responsible for the sales of facilities as well as turn-key project management. The key focal points of its activities are the booming markets in Europe and the Middle East region.

With the new facility, Messer is greatly enhancing its position in the Balkans and fortifying its market leadership in Serbia. As the Chinese market leader in the construction of air separation units with over 50 facilities sold in 2005 alone, HangYang now has its first reference facility in the lucrative European market with the completion this unit.