October

Production for ArcelorMittal starts in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal plans to put the electric arc furnace in its steelworks in Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, back into operation in 2010, thereby increasing steel production to two million tonnes. The steel plant, which has a blast furnace and a steelworks converter, is now gradually being upgraded: in October 2008, the new air separation unit from Messer went into operation on the site of the steelworks; in June 2009, the investment will be completed with the start-up of a modern and efficient air compressor. The new air separator will supply the steel giant with up to 15,000 cubic metres of oxygen per hour. In total, the Messer-operated air separation plant will produce 16,000 standard cubic metres of gaseous oxygen, 580 standard cubic metres of liquid argon and 260 standard cubic metres of liquid oxygen per hour.

 

Messer is expanding in Vietnam

Messer has been able to set up a nationwide distribution network with Messer Haiphong in the north and Messer Vietnam in the south of the country. The new filling plant on what is known as the “oil coast” in Vung Tau represents another milestone. It is 130 kilometres east of Ho Chi Minh City and offers efficient and fast cylinder filling with oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide and mixed gases. The filling station, which can fill 250 to 300 200-bar cylinders a day and supplies cylinder bundles as well as mini-tanks, went into operation in October 2008. Founded in 1998, Messer Vietnam began life as a comparatively small distributor of speciality gases in Ho Chi Minh City. Now Messer operates in four regions. The next, and for the time being, last step will be Messer Haiphong’s construction, in 2009, of an air separation plant on the site of the private steel producer Hoa Phat Group in Hai Duong, south-east of Hanoi.