LNG technology and equipment provider, Air Products (APD), is to make a significant investment to increase the winding capacity at its Port Manatee, Florida LNG equipment manufacturing facility.
Air Products said that this increase in capacity, coupled with new proprietary fabrication method innovations, will enable it to improve equipment delivery schedules.
Winding is a fabrication process for the internal components of coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHE) in which layers of tubes are wound around a central mandrel.
This initiative will increase the company’s manufacturing capacity by almost 20%, adding to the previous expansion project completed in 2019 that increased the facility's original capacity by 60%.
Air Products' liquefaction process technologies and equipment are used to produce a majority of the worldwide LNG, the company claimed.
"This continued investment in our manufacturing capacity reflects Air Products' commitment to serving the needs of the LNG industry with unrivalled liquefaction process technology and equipment.
“As the use of LNG continues to increase around the world with strong demands for clean, reliable, and affordable energy, we are investing in our business to ensure we meet the needs of our customers with proven reliability and on-time delivery of our world-leading technology," said Dr John Palamara, Air Products' General Manager, LNG.
Air Products opened its Port Manatee LNG equipment manufacturing facility in January, 2014 and rolled out its first LNG heat exchanger n September, 2016. Since then, over 20 CWHEs have been shipped.
For over 50 years, the company has manufactured LNG heat exchangers, which currently operate in over 100 LNG trains in 20 countries worldwide.
