Air Products van on Woodhouse Lane in Leeds (4th May 2010)

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an American international

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

whose principal business is selling

gases Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

and

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

s for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania ...

, in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Air Products is the tenth largest employer in

Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Lehigh County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Lechaa Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 374,557.

Products

Air Products serves customers in technology, energy, healthcare, food and industrial markets worldwide with

atmospheric An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...

industrial gases Industrial gases are the gaseous materials that are manufactured for use in industry. The principal gases provided are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon, hydrogen, helium and acetylene, although many other gases and mixtures are also avai ...

(mainly

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice a ...

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-to ...

and

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

), process and specialty gases, performance materials and chemical intermediates. Air Products produces refinery hydrogen, natural gas liquefaction (LNG) technology and equipment,

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also co ...

additives, gas cabinets, advanced coatings and

adhesives Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...

. Air Products provided the liquid hydrogen and

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an app ...

fuel for the

Space Shuttle External Tank The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the ...

. Air Products has had a working relationship with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

for 50 years and has supplied the

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33 K. However, for it to be in a fully l ...

used for every

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

launch and the Mercury and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

missions. In 2013, Air Products' high purity BIP (built-in purifier) argon was used to determine a more accurate value for the

Boltzmann Constant The Boltzmann constant ( or ) is the proportionality factor that relates the average relative kinetic energy of particles in a gas with the thermodynamic temperature of the gas. It occurs in the definitions of the kelvin and the gas constan ...

. On September 17, 2015, Air Products announced its intent to spin off its Materials Technologies business. This new stand alone company has been renamed Versum Materials.

Environmental record

In 2010, Air Products was awarded the Rushlight Hydrogen and Fuel Cells industry award for the Series 10 hydrogen fuelling station. The Rushlight Awards celebrate the leading environmental technologies and innovations by organizations throughout the UK and Ireland. The purpose is to promote what is happening in the world of hydrogen and fuel cells to the public and enable further development and funding to be granted toward reducing carbon emissions. On January 15, 2004, Air Products (NYSE: APD) was named a Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes (CIIs) Leader, ranking 17th out of the 300 largest US companies evaluated for their climate-related innovation and carbon management programs. Air Products is currently working on several preeminent

carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (carbon sequestration) for centuries or millennia. Usually th ...

demonstration projects around the world. Air Products was included on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index as one of the best performing sustainable companies for 2008/11. Only the top 20 percent of the 600 largest companies largest North American companies are selected for the DJSI North America Index. In 2001, Air Products Received an Award of Merit from the

WateReuse Water reclamation (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling) is the process of converting municipal wastewater (sewage) or industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. Types of reuse include: ...

Association for Outstanding Water Conservation Efforts for conserving of drinking water annually by converting to recycled water for the cooling process at the Santa Clara,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, manufacturing facility. The award was presented during the 25th Annual WateReuse Symposium. WRA recognizes projects that have advanced the acceptance of water reuse through

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

, sound science, and technology using reclamation,

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The Energy recycling, recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability t ...

, reuse, or

desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Salt ...

for the benefit of the public and the environment.

Corporate responsibility

On March 4, 2010, ''Corporate Responsibility'' magazine named Air Products to its 100 Best Corporate Citizens List. Air Products initially refused to cease operations in Russia in response to the

2022 invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

and the international sanctions subsequently levied against Russia. However, according to Yale School of Management, the company reversed its position and has since divested its interests in Russia.

References

External links

* {{Authority control, state=expanded Chemical companies of the United States Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania Companies based in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Chemical companies established in 1940 1940 establishments in Michigan Industrial gases American companies established in 1940