The facility, which was engineered to have minimal environmental impact, is a zero runoff/discharge site.
Technology at the site will capture and recycle all process and rain water that comes in contact with the equipment.
The plant, located at Stockton, converts gaseous carbon dioxide that would otherwise be discarded as a by-product of ethanol, manufacturing it into approximately 500 tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide per day.
Customers can use food and beverage grade carbon dioxide in applications such as brewing, carbonated beverages and winemaking as well as flash freezing and food packaging.
The adjoining Airgas Dry Ice facility will convert up to 250 tonnes per day of liquid carbon dioxide into dry ice, which is used for safe transport in food and agriculture applications and a variety of life science and industrial processes.
Source: Airgas
Matt Whitton, Airgas’ Regional President, said, “The Airgas business model is built on the foundation of local customer service. We stay close to our more than one million customers and strive to meet their needs by working collaboratively with them and our partner suppliers to help their companies succeed.”
“We announced our plans to build this facility in March 2018 to have three strategically located CO2 plants in Northern, Central, and Southern California and today, we deliver on that commitment.”
Airgas also revealed plans to make a $5,000 donation to a local high school or junior college welding program, in conjunction with the opening of this facility.