Airgas Inc., Radnor, PA, an Air Liquide company and supplier of industrial, medical and specialty gases, plans to build two new air separation units (ASUs), one near Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, and the other in Fairless Hills, PA.

The new facilities will increase bulk gas production in the Midwest and Northeast and complement the distributor’s strategic independent supply network throughout the United States, the company said.

Each ASU will produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon for use in customer applications such as food chilling and freezing, metal fabrication, blanketing and purging, and combustion enhancement. In addition, the ASUs will produce medical-grade oxygen to supply to hospitals, nursing homes and research laboratories as well as food- and pharmaceutical-grade nitrogen.

The facilities are in addition to previously announced production facilities under construction in North Carolina and Southern California.