UP-served siding under construction at Linde North America's new Texas plant

Construction is well underway on a rail siding at an air separation unit (ASU) Linde North America is building in La Porte, Texas, the company announced today.

The ASU, which separates air into oxygen, nitrogen and argon, is part of more than $250 million project that includes a new gasification train, and supporting equipment and facilities.

The siding will connect with a Union Pacific Railroad line to facilitate shipments of liquid argon in cryogenic tankers to serve customers in northern California, the Pacific Northwest and points in between, said Jai Jaishankar, Linde North America's senior project manager-project execution, in a press release.

"The major users of the product are semiconductor manufacturers, steel producers and welding distributors to make shielding gases," he said.

Slated to be operational in December, the ASU will be the largest operated by the company in the United States, Linde North America officials said. The company also is adding a new gasification unit and supporting modifications to the world's largest gas-based partial oxidation complex for the production of syngas products for petrochemicals.