Air Liquide Invests in Swaziland

The CO2 plant at the Royal Swazi Sugar Corporation in Swaziland is up and running, producing up to 48tons of CO2 per day.  According to Air Liquide’s CO2 Marketing Manager Annetta Van Vuuren, the plant was commissioned in October last year and became operational at the end of November 2008. The new plant has improved reliability of supply to customers in and around the area.

Says Annetta: “The Swazi plant has added to the alleviation of the annual CO2 shortage experienced in the beverage industry during last year’s peak end of year period. It is safe to say that the C02 crises we’ve seen in previous years could not happen as easily to our customers in the future.”
“The new plant is in-line with our strategy to bring our supply capacities closer to our customers, providing reduced exposure to transport risks and cost escalations, while improving reliability of supply from a multiple-source network as well as environmental impact. It forms part of bigger plan being rolled-out into the market. We have taken advantage of this window of opportunity to enter the C02 market, where in the past we had been unable to gain critical mass. The Swaziland plant is the latest and biggest commitment, and it now brings to 2 the number of new sources of C02 commissioned in Southern Africa since 1997 – both by Air Liquide.”

“The new plant represents Air Liquide’s on-going investment in the Swaziland economy. RSSC, Simunye Distillery has a carbon dioxide rich gas stream; the plant recovers a portion of the carbon dioxide stream, purifies and liquefies it to the highest quality carbon dioxide. The final product is then distributed to local and neighbouring customers.
Van Vuuren added that the project would also contribute to the reduction of the total carbon dioxide emitted by Swaziland industries.
She added, “Air Liquide is committed to the Swaziland region for the longer term. Air Liquide has spent much time and effort on training staff, setting up the infrastructure, supporting and further developing the local Swaziland carbon dioxide market.”

Air Liquide embarked on a programme to upgrade all its C02 plants to beverage grade. This process began in 2006 and all existing plants were certified beverage grade by the end of 2007. The upgrade means that the C02 distributed from Air Liquide plants is compliant with the highest levels of quality after being graded and approved by the stringent Coca Cola grading system.
“Our customers can now benefit from a sourcing system three times bigger than 2 years ago and the greatest contingencies in supply systems. Air Liquide now harvests LCO2 (Liquid C02) from six sources compared to our nearest competition at four.”