LA Turbine’s new owner

Chart Industries has acquired turboexpander manufacturer L.A. Turbine (LAT). Chart is a manufacturer with a product portfolio used in every phase of the liquid gas supply chain, including upfront engineering, service and repair. Expanders are utilized in many Chart offerings including hydrogen & helium liquefaction, carbon capture and energy storage industrial gas, natural gas processing, small-scale LNG plants, propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants, heavy hydrocarbon removal process for LNG plants, and petrochemical. The expanders required for hydrogen and helium liquefaction are difficult to obtain in the market due to a limited number of companies like LAT that are capable of designing and producing it. Further, within the last three years, the other qualified suppliers have been acquired by companies that only use their hydrogen and helium turboexpanders for in-house dedicated purposes. This component of a liquefier is one of the longest lead-time items at one to two years depending on the configuration. Additionally, this acquisition builds on other recent additions to the Chart portfolio, including Cryo Technologies’ helium and hydrogen liquefaction capabilities which will also utilize L.A. Turbine’s equipment.