Air Separation Units: Exploring Career Opportunities beyond Oil and Gas

𝗔𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘀: 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗶𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝘀

Continuing with our series of creating awareness about different industries for exciting career opportunities, today we will discuss 𝗖𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

𝗖𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 is at the heart of industrial gas production, enabling industries like healthcare, energy, steel, and petrochemicals to thrive. Companies in this field develop technology to separate oxygen, nitrogen, and argon from air, ensuring high purity and efficiency.

📝𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄

Atmospheric air is first compressed and sent through a combination of chillers and molecular sieves to remove moisture, CO2 and hydrocarbons. The air stream then passes through coldbox which contains cryogenic heat exchangers and distillation columns where the separation takes place. The separated streams then pass through expanders if liquid streams are required before storing them in tanks.

This may sound very simple but unit design for cryogenic operation is definitely challenging.

🎓 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗦𝗨

From an engineering career point of view, 𝘼𝙎𝙐𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜.

Process engineering for an ASU requires the design of heavy-duty compressors, complex heat exchangers, distillation columns (cold box), storage tanks, etc. which is combined with the understanding of cryogenic materials for Mechanical engineers.

Also, unlike oil and gas, this industry has seen lower market-related volatility and is considered more stable from job security point of view.

Following are some of the major companies that are leading the industrial gas industry through ASUs:

🔸 Linde Gas (merged Praxair with it)
🔸 Air Products
🔸 Air Liquide
🔸 Messer
🔸 Taiyo Nippon Sanso (part of Mitsubishi Chemical)
🔸 SIAD Macchine Impianti
🔸 Cryogenmash
🔸 Hangzhou Hangyang