Product Overview

• The industrial gas market consists of the sales of industrial gases by entities (organizations, sole traders or partnerships) that manufacture industrial organic and inorganic gases in compressed, liquid, and solid forms. Industrial gases are also referred to as bulk gases or commodity gases. The industrial gas market is segmented into nitrogen; oxygen; carbon dioxide; hydrogen; Argon and Helium.

• Industrial gases are produced by procuring raw materials such as natural gas, crude oil and sometimes through sewage sludge. The gases produced are packed and transported for delivering to customers by pipeline or through distributors or retailers present in a region. Most gases are sold in gas cylinders as liquids in appropriate containers or delivered in bulk through trucks. Industrial gas is also used in oil and gas, petrochemicals, chemicals, power, mining, steelmaking, metals, environmental protection, medicine, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food, water, fertilizers, nuclear power, electronics, aerospace and other related industries.

• The use of industrial gas in the electronics (photovoltaic) industry for the manufacturing of semiconductors, solar, display’s, LED solid state lighting, wafers and polysilicon compel the growth prospects for this market. Clean energy, predominantly solar PV, is evolving as an eminent source of clean energy generation attracting investments globally. These gases substantially reduce the manufacturing costs, which is poised to increase its implementation over the forecast period.

• Bulk (Liquid Gas Transport) is consumers' most preferred form of distribution. This involves the gas either being liquified or in its natural state being transported by either road (dedicated trailers) or via pipelines (over long distances). These gases are also circulated in the form of packaged cylinders (as high-pressure gas or low-pressure liquid). This form of circulation is however only conducive for customers with insignificant requirement for these gasses.

• Most of the commercially used oxygen is fabricated using an unconventional cryogenic distillation process. The oxygen obtained from this process is 99% clean. Lately, the energy-proficient vacuum swing adsorption method has found application in a few restricted applications that don’t need oxygen of more than 90-93% concentration. Argon and nitrogen can also be obtained by extracting them from air.