Air Separation Plant Market Analysis

The Air Separation Plants Market will achieve a market valuation from USD 6.6 Billion in 2023 to USD 9.5 Billion by 2030 and a CAGR of 5.3% in the forecast period from 2024 to 2030. The market has reached USD 6.4 billion in 2022.

Air Separation Plants Market Overview

The air separation plants produce various atmospheric gases like nitrogen, argon, oxygen, and other gases. These separation plants produce neon, xenon, ultra-high purity oxygen, and krypton, including compressed dry air. The separation plants play a major role due to their higher usage in the industrial verticals like the medical sector, chemical industry, steel, and others. Therefore, the demand for Air Separation Plants Market is propelling at higher space.

The growing initiatives and implemented policies by the government for the safety of the environment are driving the Air Separation Plants Market. It is highly concerned in industrial regions like the Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia and UAE. These regions are boosting global market growth. The rising demand in the chemical sectors and emerging economies will lead the market towards higher opportunities. Besides, the development of industrialization and increased usage of industrial gases are also helping the market to reach its goal.

Air Separation Plants Market Key Competitors

The key players of the global air separation plants market are Linde AG, Air Liquide SA, Praxair, Inc., Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, Messer Group GmbH, Universal Industrial Gases, Enerflex Ltd., Technex Ltd., and Gas Engineering LLC.

Recent Developments

April 2022

Air Liquide and EZZ Steel (the Middle East and Africa) is the global leader in steel and has signed an agreement on industrial gas supply to the EZZ's new plant in Ain Sokhna (East of Cairo, Egypt). Air Liquide has planned for an investment of 80 million dollars for the Air Separation Unit (ASU). It will supply EZZ throughout the contract years and other customer needs in the basin.

April 2022

Airgas, a leader of Air Liquide company, will purchase wind power for an Air Separation Unit in (Cleburne, Texas) outside of Dallas. It is the first Airgas primary production unit powered by an energy mix, including renewable energy. The air separation units produce liquid oxygen, argon, and nitrogen mixed with energy sources to run on wind power. It will cut the carbon footprint by an estimation of15,840 metric tons per year.

North America is referred as one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of high purity oxygen, cylinder filling plants and different gas generator for medical, industrial and other applications, for instance, Linde North America is investing in a site that has a new gasification train and ancillary equipment and facilities. This expected to increase the demand for air separation plants in the region during the forecast period.

Air Separation Plants Market Segmentation

The global air separation plants market has been segmented based on type, process, gas, application, and region.

The global market by type has been segmented into under 20000 m3/h, 20,000-40,000 m3/h, 40,000-80,000 m3/h, and more than 80,000 m3/h. Among these types, in 2018, the global market was led by 20,000-40,000 m3/h segment and is projected to lead throughout the forecast period. The 20,000- 40,000 m3/h capacity type is used for air separation purposes. These are majorly used in the heat treatment process, welding, pulp & paper industry, the steel industry where certain gases that will react with and degrade the product, are removed. This expected to enhance the demand for the 20,000- 40,000 m3/h capacity type air separation plants in the global market during the forecast period.

Based on the process, the market has been segmented into the cryogenic distillation process and non-cryogenic distillation process. Among these processes, the cryogenic distillation process has accounted for the largest market share, followed by the non-cryogenic distillation process. Cryogenic distillation process separates oxygen from air by liquefying air at shallow temperature. Cryogenic air separation process relies on the differences in boiling points to separate air and purify into the desired gas supply and liquid products, such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon. It is used in medium to large scale plants to produce nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, as gases or liquid products. Moreover, all plants producing liquefied industrial gas products utilize cryogenic technology process, which enhanced the global market size for the air separation plants in 2018 and further expanding plants producing liquefied industrial gas is expected to raise the demand for the cryogenic technology process in the global market during the forecast period.

On the basis of gas, the global market has been segmented into nitrogen, oxygen, and others. In 2018, the oxygen segment dominated the market and projected to be dominant throughout the forecast period. The oxygen (O2) is an active, life-sustaining component of the atmosphere. It is colorless, odorless and tasteless & has poor solubility in water. The largest consumer of oxygen is the steel industry. Moreover, Oxygen has numerous uses in steelmaking and other metals refining and fabrication processes which are used in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum processing, glass, and ceramic manufacture and pulp and paper manufacture.

On the basis of application, the global market has been segmented into chemical, oil & gas industry, paper, metallurgy, and others. In 2018, the metallurgy segment dominated the market and projected to be dominant throughout the forecast period. Gases act as a manufacturer of casting molds to enhance their hardness. Moreover, they are also used to melt the steel and other metals and work as a shielding gas in the heat treatment of iron, steel, and other metals. The largest user of oxygen is the steel and metal industry. They are used to cool materials which are heat sensitive or soft at room temperature. Thus, these factors and features are expected to lead the global market growth for air separation plants during the forecast period.

Air Separation Plants Market Regional Analysis:

On the basis of region, the global air separation plants market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and the rest of the world (RoW).

Global Air Separation Plants Market, by Region, 2018  

Source: MRFR Analysis

Europe is referred to as one of the leading markets for air separation plant under segments such as by process and by gas. European governments such as that of France and Germany, devote a large share of spending on infrastructure and as well as on innovations in current technology for reducing capital costs and driving up process efficiency, for instance, a European supplier of industrial and medical gas products, provides ULTRA-AL merchant air separation plants. This influence the demand for air separation plants market in the region.

The Rest of the World includes countries such as the Middle East & Africa and South America. The Middle East & Africa is growing owing to the growth in the Metallurgy industry, which mainly drives the market growth for air separation plant during the forecast period.

Air Separation Plants Market Synopsis

The global air separation plants market has been segmented based on type, process, gas, application, and region. On the basis of type, the market has been segmented into under 20000 m3/h, 20,000-40,000 m3/h, 40,000-80,000 m3/h, and more than 80,000 m3/h. Among these types, the 20,000-40,000 m3/h segment is projected to be dominant throughout the forecast period. Additionally, the 20,000-40,000 m3/h section has also registered as the fastest growing segment. On the basis of process, in 2018, the cryogenic distillation process segment was dominated by the global market followed by the non-cryogenic distillation process. On the basis of gas, the oxygen segment is projected to be dominant throughout the forecast period. On the basis of application, the metallurgy segment is expected to be dominant throughout the forecast period. On the basis of region, Asia-Pacific has accounted for the largest market followed by North America and Europe.

Air separation plants are used to separate the atmospheric air into its various primary components like nitrogen, oxygen, and other inert gases. The most common method for air separation is cryogenic distillation. Cryogenic air separation units (ASUs) are built to provide gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, hydrogen, helium, and acetylene. Air separation plant has seen a rise in demand across various industries such as food & beverages, Automotive, paper & pulp, healthcare.

Air Separation Plants Market Segmentation

• By Type: Under 20000 m3/h, 20,000-40,000 m3/h, 40,000-80,000 m3/h, and More Than 80,000 m3/h


• By Process: Cryogenic distillation process and non-cryogenic distillation process


• By Gas: Nitrogen, oxygen, and others


• By Application: Chemical, oil & gas industry, paper, metallurgy, and others

Key Questions Addressed by the Report

• What was the historic market size (2021) growth?


• Which segmentation (type/process/gas/application) is driving market growth?


• What will be the growth rate by 2030?


• Who are the key players in this market?


• What are the strategies adopted by key players?