Air Products Air Separation Plant

Air Products is in the final stages of building a state-of-the art production plant in Alloa, on brownfield, industrial land.
The plant will separate air into oxygen, nitrogen and argon that will support world-leading glass container manufacturer, and major local employer, O-I Glass. It will also serve the needs of NHS hospitals and local manufacturing companies supplying industries such as food and beverages, metals and welding.

We are committed to being a good neighbour and a long-standing part of the Alloa community. If you are interested in working with us, or have questions about the plant please contact us.

News

Please find below news and updates about construction and commissioning activities.


Month	Activities
23 April 2025	Notice of noise-generating activities Construction activity at the Alloa Air Separation Unit is nearing completion and we are entering the commissioning phase, which is about starting up the plant and getting it ready to serve O-I Glass as well as NHS hospitals and manufacturing business across Scotland, and beyond. For the majority of these activities, the noise insulation, which has been built into the plant, will significantly reduce any impact on nearby residents. However, a small number of the activities we need to carry out are likely to be audible. Any increase in noise will be temporary and there will be teams on site monitoring levels throughout. There are three activities in particular that are worth being aware of and that are likely to generate some noise: Testing the air compressors to make sure they operate as planned. This activity is currently planned for 3 separate days between the 5th – 15th May. Drying out the plant so that it can operate at very low temperatures without icing over. This is currently scheduled for mid-May and is likely to last for four consecutive days. Venting air until the plant can deliver products at the right purity level. This is particularly important given some of the sectors we will supply such as hospitals. The activity is currently scheduled for the third week in May. These dates might be subject to change, so please do keep visiting this web site for any updates. You may also notice the use of site lighting outside of daylight hours. This is a temporary measure that was agreed with the council as part of our Construction Environmental Management Plan, to ensure we can safely finish the plant. We shouldn’t need it in May and, in the meantime, there may well be occasions where we'll be able to turn the lighting off for short periods. We won't need it once the plant is fully operational. Please rest assured that all activities during commissioning will be conducted safely and there will be teams on site closely monitoring the process. Air Products safely owns and operates over 300 hundred of these plants globally. Our apologies in advance for any inconvenience you experience as a result of commissioning. We’ll make sure you have notice of ahead of each of the activities we’ve highlighted above, and thank you in advance for your ongoing understanding. As always, please reach out via AlloaEnq@airproducts.com with any questions and please visit this web site for regular updates.
25 February 2025	We’d like to make you aware of urgent commissioning activities taking place at the Air Products construction site on Tuesday 25 February, which might result in some intermittent noise being emitted from our site. Throughout the day (between 8am and 6pm), we’ll be pushing air through a section of the plant at high pressure. Each of these episodes will last up to 30 minutes and we’ll be carrying them out between 5 and 10 times in total over the course of the day. Each time we’ll be sounding an air horn for a few seconds first, to make people working in close vicinity aware that the activity is about to start. As is always that case, this work will be conducted in a way that ensures the highest levels of site safety and we’ll be setting up noise monitoring outside our fence line. This monitoring will enable to us to measure the impact of this short-term activity on local residents and ensure we remain in compliance with the terms of our planning consent. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us AlloaEnq@airproducts.com Thank you for your ongoing understanding and support.

How will the plant work?

Really, it’s just a matter of basic physics.

The air we breathe is principally made up of oxygen, nitrogen and argon. We separate these components into high purity products in plants called Air Separation Units (ASU). The purpose of these plants is to cool air to a liquid, then separate it efficiently into oxygen, nitrogen and argon, using a distillation process reminiscent of the production of whisky, but at very low temperatures.

The only emissions to air from the plant itself will be harmless components of input air that are not required, as well as water vapour from a cooling tower.

The Benefits

As well as creating much needed oxygen and other industrial gases that hospitals and local manufacturers will use in applications such as welding and food production, the facility will provide a number of other benefits to the region over its lifetime. These benefits include:

Investment in the local area

Provision of essential products to customers locally and across Scotland and beyond

Creation of around 10 direct, permanent jobs for ongoing operation and maintenance of the facility, as well as internships and apprenticeships.

Potential opportunities for local suppliers

Regeneration and re-use of a redundant brownfield site

Get in touch

Whether you have a question about the new plant or are interested in working with us, we’d love to hear from you.

Talk to us:
If you have questions about the plant or our wider work in the local community, you can reach us on AlloaEnq@airproducts.com

Work with us:
At Air Products, we look for people with a desire to work in a quality, safety focused and diverse environment.

We’ll employ around 10 permanent staff ranging from plant operations to HGV drivers.

We also understand the importance of allowing young people to gain valuable work experience and network with professionals as they build their career. We’ll be offering internships and apprenticeships to help the next generation jumpstart their career as part of our professional team.

We will publicise all vacant positions locally when they become available on our careers centre Air Products Careers. If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact us on AlloaEnq@airproducts.com.

Letters to residents

We’re writing regularly to local residents to keep them up to date on our activity. Copies of the letters can be found here.

Who is Air Products

Air Products is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for 80 years, focused on serving energy, environment and emerging markets.

You use our products every day but perhaps don’t realise it. That’s because our products go into the products you use, not directly onto the shelves at your supermarket or in the shopping centre near your home. For example, our nitrogen is used for freezing food; our helium for MRI scanners; our hydrogen for transport; our carbon dioxide for food and drinks; our oxygen for industry and medical oxygen for hospitals.

Air Products’ purpose is to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world.

Air Products is an industry leader in safety and world-leading oxygen supplier, with a wealth of experience and knowledge. We currently own and operate over 300 air separation plants in over 40 countries worldwide. In addition to our own plants, we have sold, designed and built over 1000 air separation plants globally. This is tried and tested technology.

We have operated in the UK for over 60 years. In Scotland, we have significant operations in Aberdeen and Glasgow, as well as having for many years operated an air separation plant at Cumbernauld. Wherever we operate, we have a strong commitment to the environment, safety and the communities within which we operate. More details can be found on our Sustainability website.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY