BOC Dedicates Air Separation Facility at Coffeyville, Kansas; High Purity Oxygen Used in Farmland Industries Gasification Process.

MURRAY HILL, N.J., July 9 /PRNewswire/ --

BOC Gases will conduct an open house and dedication ceremony at its Coffeyville, Kansas industrial gases production facility on Monday, July 9, 2001. The 3200 ton-per-day plant -- one of the largest in the U. S. -- provides high purity nitrogen, oxygen and compressed dry air to the Farmland Industries Coffeyville complex, and liquid nitrogen, oxygen and argon for the merchant market.

Farmland uses large volumes of oxygen in its petroleum coke-based gasification plant. The oxygen partially oxidizes the petroleum coke at high temperatures to produce syngas, which Farmland then reacts with nitrogen to produce ammonia for fertilizer.

Farmland's use of petroleum coke in the gasification process in place of natural gas in the more conventional steam-reforming process, meets several challenging objectives. It takes a very low value, "bottom-of-the-barrel" refinery by-product and converts it to a useful chemical product. It also reduces fertilizer costs and provides a stable, low-cost feedstock to the chemical process operations. As a huge added bonus, the resulting syngas contains nitrogen and sulfur in forms that are very easy to remove downstream, as opposed to oxide forms of those compounds typically found when solid fuels like coal and petroleum coke are burned in conventional boilers. In conventional boiler applications, very expensive scrubbers are required to remove nitrogen and sulfur oxides.

Randy Hull, BOC vice president/general manager, Key Customer Group, said, "This technology has significant potential for the refinery, chemical and power generating industries, especially during times of soaring energy costs and increasing demands for cleaner fuels. While many other ammonia-producing facilities were forced to shut down due to the high cost of natural gas, Farmland was able to cost-effectively continue and even increase operations using their petroleum coke gasifier."

Farmland Industries, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., (http://www.farmland.com) is a diversified farmer-owned cooperative focused on meeting the needs of its local cooperative- and farmer-owners. Farmland and its joint venture partners supply local cooperatives with agricultural inputs, such as crop nutrients, crop protection products, petroleum products and animal feeds. As part of its farm-to-table mission, Farmland adds value to its farmer-owners' grain and livestock by processing and marketing high-quality grain, pork, beef and catfish products throughout the United States and in more than 60 countries.

The BOC Group (NYSE: BOX), which serves two million customers in more than 50 countries, is one of the largest and most global of the world's leading gases companies. It employs nearly 43,000 people and had annual sales of nearly $5.8 billion in 2000. Further information about The BOC Group may be obtained on the Internet at http://www.boc.com.

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