The history of the development of oxygen production in Kyiv began in the pre-war period, when, with the growth of the industrial potential of the region, a significant need for oxygen and acetylene arose. By the beginning of 1941, production buildings were built and the Kiev oxygen plant received domestically produced equipment manufactured by the All-Union State Autogenous Trust, to which all plants producing acetylene and oxygen were subordinate. However, due to the outbreak of war, the equipment was evacuated, and only in 1944 were 2 units with a capacity of 30 m3/hour put into operation. In 1947-48 they were replaced by USA-made units “Superior” with a capacity of 90 m3/hour and “Independence” – 100 m3/hour.
In 1951, the plant mastered the KG-300 installation, and in 1957 – the second KG-300-2D. In 1960, a production expansion project was completed and a LINDE L-275 liquid oxygen production unit was put into operation, and in 1963-64 – 2 KZh-150 units. During this period, the plant already had 7 air separation units in operation, and it supplied its products (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, welding gas mixtures, etc.) to 13 regions of Ukraine. In 1973-78, the production of air separation products underwent a radical reconstruction with an increase in production volumes. AzhKzhKAArzh-2 (oxygen-nitrogen unit) and auxiliary K-0.4 were put into operation. The plant began supplying liquid and gaseous oxygen, nitrogen, and argon to all regions of the Southwestern region of Ukraine. Mastering the new technology required special training of personnel. Practitioners were replaced by young specialists, graduates of specialized technical schools, colleges, and universities, who made a worthy contribution to the development of the enterprise.
In 1996, the plant was privatized and became a closed joint stock company. Despite the known difficulties, the enterprise team made every effort to ensure efficient operation of the equipment, satisfying the country’s needs for oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, welding gas mixtures, for which sales and gasification points were created in many regions of Ukraine. But in the spring of 2015, the plant announced in the press that it was closing for maintenance work for an indefinite period and obliged the hospitals to return all the equipment that had been leased to them. In the fall of 2015, a drilling rig very similar to the one that takes soil samples before the start of construction was operating on the territory of the plant. In 2017, the production equipment was dismantled; more than half of the plant’s territory is empty. Apparently, all this, as well as the fact that advertisements for renting out its premises appeared on the gates of the enterprise, gives every reason to believe that a new residential complex will soon appear in place of the former oxygen plant. In February 2019, the Kievgorstroy company announced the start of sales of apartments in the Otradny residential complex, which is now located on the site of the oxygen plant.
Where is the oxygen plant?
Otradny Avenue, 93/2