Air Products Membrane Solutions, the global leader in the production of gas separation and purification membranes, has officially started the construction of its $70 million expanded Missouri Manufacturing and Logistics Center in Maryland Heights, near St. Louis, Missouri. Understood to be the recipient of company’s largest investment till date, the new facility will begin production by the end of 2025, and once it gets there, it will improve its already 30 employees-big workforce. As for what the facility will actually deliver, it is going to support Air Products’ portfolio of PRISM® Membrane Separators, Marine Systems, and Engineered-to-Order Systems that have their utility rooted in protecting goods at sea, on land, and in the air. Furthermore, they also bear the potential to create more sustainable energy sources and raise productivity across a variety of industries and applications. Talk about these products on a slightly deeper level, we begin from PRISM® Membrane Separators that are effectively made up with thousands of polymeric hollow fibers acting as a molecular filter to separate gases into individual elements, including methane, nitrogen or hydrogen. These membrane separators are offered to value-added packagers as an original equipment manufacturer component inside specialized systems. The industries that Air Products serves through its membrane separators include aerospace, offshore drilling, food and beverage, transportation, and defense.
Next up, we have the company’s marine systems. As of today, Air Products is world’s most experienced and largest supplier of marine-based membrane systems, systems that cater to several market segments, such as dual-fuel systems, chemical tankers, oil platforms and liquefied natural gas carriers. To give you some context, more than 2,000 ships worldwide currently use separation systems based on Air Products’ membrane technology. Moving on to the company’s engineered-to-order systems, they are essentially a set of large industrial membrane systems for nitrogen generation and process gas applications, which are fully tailored to customer specifications. As for the markets they target, these products reach the oil and gas industry, ammonia plants, chemical manufacturing facilities, and renewable diesel production.
“We are excited to officially break ground on this important project. This expansion builds on our commitment to be a leader in the energy transition,” said Dr. Erin Sorensen, general manager at Air Products Membrane Solutions. “I share in our local team’s excitement for today’s event and in the promise of what this new facility will mean for our business and our customers as we continue to work together to generate a cleaner future.”
Rounding up highlights for us is Air Products’ global service and support, which provides maintenance and optimization of membrane systems. By that, we refer to its offering of health checks, replacement parts, remote monitoring, and other services to keep membranes operating at peak performance for longer stretches.
