Airgas Bringing 25 New Jobs To Falls Twp.

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — Airgas, which employs more than 1,200 people in the greater Philadelphia area, is expanding its operations in Falls Township, creating about 25 new jobs.

Falls Township Supervisors on Tuesday approved the development of a nearly 9-acre site at Keystone Industrial Port Complex for Airgas.

Radnor-based Airgas plans to build an air separation plant on part of the former U.S. Steel property. The process — which uses ambient air and creates no emissions or hazardous waste — enhances the reliability of oxygen supplied to hospitals.

Airgas, which has more than 1 million customers in the United States, is a suppler of industrial, medical and specialty gases, as well as other products and is one of the nation's largest suppliers of safety products. All of the company's gas products, which include nitrogen and argon, are fed through a short pipe rack to storage tanks, where materials serve as inventory for tractor trailers, which are used to distribute to various customers.

Double-wall tanks are designed to prevent leaks, but in the event that any of the gases leak, "it goes right back where it came from: the air," a company official told Falls supervisors.

Airgas now awaits a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection, which officials said should be approved by mid-November.

Photo courtesy Airgas