“The life expectancy of this plant is 40 to 45 years. We’re going to be a part of the community for a long time to come,” Dhaliwal said during a recent tour of the plant at 1524 Lockwood Road. Dhaliwal said Aspen Air shipped its first products in late December.

Aspen Air, based in Calgary, Alberta, announced in November 2006 that it planned to build an air separation plant in the Billings area. Dhaliwal said a lot of research was conducted before Aspen Air selected Billings for its first plant in the United States. Billings fit the bill because it’s around 500 miles from the nearest industrial gas manufacturing plants in Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho. Also, Billings has an abundance of industries – health care facilities, refineries and welding shops – that can use Aspen Air’s products, Dhaliwal said.

“It’s a good, stable business,” he said. “We’re a manufacturing operation just like the refineries are, and our clientele is always nearby.”

Dhaliwal said Aspen Air has plans for developing other plants, but he can’t yet disclose where they will be located.

He said Aspen Air will enhance local business by reducing its customers’ operating costs by 10 to 15 percent. Customers realize the savings because they don’t have to pay for shipping the products Aspen Air manufactures – liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen and argon gas – over long distances, he said.

Health care facilities use oxygen in operating rooms and for patients who need help breathing. Oxygen is also used in refining and other manufacturing processes.

Dhaliwal credited the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, Yellowstone County’s economic development agency, for welcoming Aspen Air to Billings and opening doors as he selected a site for the plant.Refineries and petrochemical plants use nitrogen in some industrial processes. Cattle breeders also use liquid nitrogen – which boils at about minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit – to store bull semen. Argon is used in welding shops and in a variety of manufacturing processes. For example, window manufacturers often use argon as an insulating layer between glass panes.

To some, separating the air we breathe into its most useful components sounds a little like alchemy, but it’s a fairly straightforward process, Dhaliwal said. The atmosphere is about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and nearly 1 percent argon, and smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, water vapor and other trace elements.

Dhaliwal said the air separation plant uses a series of filters, compressors, expanders, dryers and chillers to separate the gases. The plant, which runs on electricity, creates no emissions, he said.

As a simple way to describe the air separation process, think of what happens when a bottle of Coca Cola is shaken. Liquid collects on the bottom, a bubbly liquid-gas mixture collects in the middle and pure gas rises to the top of the bottle, Dhaliwal said.

Designing and building an air separation plant involves specialized skills. Aspen Air’s engineering staff relocated from Calgary to Billings for several months during the construction phase. Most of the plant’s components were fabricated on the site, using local labor, Dhaliwal said.

Dhaliwal credited the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, Yellowstone County’s economic development agency, for welcoming Aspen Air to Billings and opening doors as he selected a site for the plant. Doing business in the United States has gone well, he said, because Calgary and Billings have much in common culturally and geographically, he said.

The plant has nine full-time employees, and Aspen Air plans to contract with a local trucking company to deliver its products.

“From what I understand, some of their deliveries will be in the local area, but some will be as far away as Spokane,” said Stewart Ankrum, manager of Ankrum Trucking, which has been working with Aspen Air. Delivering Aspen Air’s products could create a few more jobs, but at this point it’s too soon to tell whether the new drivers would be employees of Ankrum Trucking or owner-operators, Ankrum said.

The plant is to be operational by the third quarter of 2007, and will be the company’s first plant in the United States, said Onkar Dhaliwal, president and chief executive officer of Aspen Air U.S. Dhaliwal is from Calgary, Alberta.

The company will hire as many as 20 employees from the Billings area to fill various positions, including plant manager, operators and sales staff.

The Associated Presse reported that Dhaliwal said that the Billings area was chosen because it is more than 500 miles from the nearest industrial gas manufacturing plants in Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho, and that locating a gas plant there will save money for users of industrial gases.

Aspen Air U.S. is based in Billings.

The plant should be operational by the third quarter of 2007, said Onkar Dhaliwal, president and chief executive officer of Aspen Air U.S. Corp.

Dhaliwal was introduced to the community Tuesday at a news conference hosted by the Big Sky Economic Development Authority.

He said the Billings plant will be the company’s first site in the United States, but he plans to develop another plant in Montana at a site yet to be determined.

Separating the gases out of the air involves compressing and cooling air to a point at which the gases liquefy and separate, Dhaliwal said. The plant creates no harmful emissions and no solid or liquid waste. Only small quantities of surplus oxygen and nitrogen will be emitted. Compressors and other equipment will be indoors to minimize noise.

Air contains 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1.3 percent argon by volume. Carbon dioxide, water vapor and other trace gases such as krypton, hydrogen, neon and helium make up the remainder.

Dhaliwal, of Calgary, Alberta, said the company will soon begin hiring up to 20 employees from the Billings area. Positions include a plant manager, operators and sales staff. Jobs are posted on the company’s Web site, www.aspenaircorp.com.

Patrice Elliott, president of the Big Sky Economic Development Corp.’s board of directors, said the company will have a $3 million annual payroll.

Dhaliwal said the Billings area was selected in part because it’s more than 500 miles from the nearest industrial gas manufacturing plants in Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho.

The local plant also will save money for users of industrial gases because they won’t have to be transported over long distances, he said.

Oxygen is used in medicine and in welding. Nitrogen has many industrial uses, including applications in oil refineries. Argon is used in welding and metal manufacturing, Dhaliwal said.

“Aspen is very pleased with the warm welcome and cooperation we have received from government and businesses in Montana” said Onkar Dhaliwal, President and CEO of Aspen Air. “We are proud to be the first supplier of liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon in the region and hope that we can play a part in creating even more jobs by attracting other industries that depend on a stable supply of industrial gases.”

Industries that will immediately benefit from the construction of this plant are hospitals and clinics, laboratories, metal fabrication and welding shops, food processing plants and many different sectors of the oil and gas industry.

The plant will open in the third quarter of 2007 and will create over twenty new jobs in the Billings area.
Aspen Air U.S. Corp. is based in Billings, MT and specializes in the production and distribution of industrial gases.

For further information contact:

• Onkar Dhaliwal
• President & CEO
• www.aspenaircorp.com

Phone: 406-259-9014

All three of the gases to be manufactured by Aspen Air U.S. Corp. have uses in industry and medicine, said Onkar Dhaliwal, president and chief executive officer.

Dhaliwal was introduced to the community Tuesday at a news conference hosted by the Big Sky Economic Development Authority.

The plant, now under construction at 1524 Lockwood Road, should be operational by the third quarter of 2007, Dhaliwal said. He said the Billings plant will be the company’s first site in the United States, but he also has plans for developing another Montana gas plant at a site yet to be announced.

Dhaliwal, of Calgary, Alberta, said the company will soon begin hiring up to 20 employees from the Billings area. Positions include a plant manager, operators and sales staff. Jobs are posted on the company’s Web site, www.aspenaircorp.com.

Dhaliwal said the Billings area was selected, in part, because it’s more than 500 miles from the nearest industrial gas manufacturing plants in Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho. Those plants have no excess capacity. The local plant will save money for users of industrial gases because they won’t have to be transported over long distances, he said.

The plant is designed to last 25 to 30 years.

“So we’re going to be here for the long term,” Dhaliwal said.

Joe McClure, executive director of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, said the Billings market will benefit because Aspen Air will provide needed products at a lower cost.

Patrice Elliott, president of the Big Sky Economic Development Corp.’s board of directors, said the community will benefit from the company’s $3 million annual payroll.

Big Sky EDA is a county economic development agency funded primarily through a countywide tax levy; Big Sky EDC raises private investment capital.

Oxygen is used in medicine and in welding. Nitrogen has many industrial uses, including applications in oil refineries.Pulling oxygen, nitrogen and argon from the air may sound like alchemy. In reality, the process involves compressing and cooling air to a point at which the gases liquefy and separate, Dhaliwal said. The plant creates no harmful emissions and no solid or liquid waste. Only small quantities of surplus oxygen and nitrogen will be emitted from time to time. Compressors and other equipment will be indoors to minimize noise, he said.

Air contains 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1.3 percent argon by volume. Carbon dioxide, water vapor and other trace gases such as krypton, hydrogen, neon and helium make up the remainder.

Oxygen is used in medicine and in welding. Nitrogen has many industrial uses, including applications in oil refineries. Argon is used in welding and metal manufacturing, Dhaliwal said.

He said the company will sell directly to large users, but it will also market its products to regional gas distributors. Dhaliwal said Aspen Air may lead to the creation of even more jobs if other industries that require a stable supply of industrial gases move to Billings.

Linda Beck, director of outreach and recruitment for Big Sky EDC, said she didn’t have to beat the bushes to bring Aspen Air into the community. Dhaliwal came into her office in April, and she has been working with him since. He is seeking no tax incentives or subsidies, she said.

Dhaliwal said McClure and Beck have helped him find an appropriate location.

“Without their help, we couldn’t have opened the doors,” he said.

Dhaliwal said he has more than 10 years of experience working with industrial gases, including seven years with Air Liquide, an international manufacturer and distributor of medical and industrial gases. He said Aspen Air U.S. Corp. is privately financed.

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