Melbourne-based Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group partners with Capral Aluminium to engineer cryogenic equipment that serves the industrial gas industry.
Timothy Born, Regional vice president for South East Asia at Nikkiso Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group (CE&IG), has spent more than 40 years in the industrial gas industry. Starting with BOC, he gained experience in producing and liquefying air and stored as cryogenic liquids, which are then vaporized to be used as gases across multiple industry sectors. Today, Nikkiso CE&IG specialises in manufacturing equipment that stores, transports, pumps, and vaporises these liquids. The company also produces systems for liquefied natural gas, a sector that has seen growing demand in Australia.
Nikkiso CE&IG has been operational in Australia for over 25 years, initially as Cryoquip, and now as Nikkiso CE&IG after being acquired by its Japanese parent eight years ago. Born said becoming part of Nikkiso has enabled the business to secure a new facility whilst growing and refining a local focus on serving customers, providing apprenticeships, and training university engineering students in specialised skills for the industry.
He emphasised that apprenticeships remain a cornerstone of Nikkiso CE&IG’s operations, as over the past 25 years the company has trained close to 70 apprentices in welding, fitting, turning, and technical roles.
“At any point in time, we have five or six apprentices coming through,” he said.
This commitment to skills development reflects the company’s focus on nurturing local talent, particularly in trades that have been historically underrepresented.
A global player with local impact
Nikkiso, with a global turnover in excess of AUD
$2 billion, operates in the medical, aerospace, clean energy and industrial sectors. The Australian arm, focuses on the clean energy and industrial gases markets, being the local arm for all of its functional units, including service, sales, and aftermarket support. “ Our local team does not only design pumps, heat exchangers, and CO2 recovery systems but also handles installation and maintenance locally, ensuring customers receive solutions tailored to Australian conditions”, Born said
The company’s equipment serves a range of industries. Liquid oxygen is primarily supplied to hospitals, nitrogen is used in refineries, wineries, and metal processing, while CO2 finds applications in beverage production and water treatment plants. Nikkiso CE&IG has also developed large-scale systems for desalination plants in Western Australia and liquefied natural gas systems for off-grid power generation.
Aluminium: precision in design and performance
At the centre of Nikkiso CE&IG’s vaporisers lies aluminium, chosen for its workability, thermal properties, and durability. Born explained that aluminium extrusion has been chosen because it’s lightweight and strong, doesn’t rust, it’s a great conductor of heat and can handle the extreme temperature swings involved in cryogenic applications, which can be over 250 degrees.
The material’s versatility also allows for efficient crimping techniques that replace traditional rivets or bolts, accommodating ice loads and heavy moisture without compromising structural integrity. Designing each vaporiser involves careful modelling to account for ambient conditions, gas type, flow rates, pressures, and operational duration. The number and placement of fins, for example, is optimised to handle frost and ice at the cold end and maximise heat absorption at the warmer end. Born described it as a careful balancing act.
“Not all the fins are the same. The front of the vaporiser is very cold, so we want fewer fins so that the snow can shed and melt, but at the warm end we want to absorb as much heat as possible,” he said.
Capral Aluminium plays a pivotal role in enabling these precise designs. Nikkiso CE&IG utilises a mix of standard and custom extrusions, including T6-tempered 6060 alloys, which have proven highly durable over decades of service. Many vaporisers installed 25-30 years ago remain operational today, demonstrating the longevity of both the design and the material.
The relationship with Capral spans more than 25 years, with Born praising the supplier for understanding Nikkiso CE&IG’s requirements and delivering consistently high-quality extrusions. Capral maintains some of the dies at its Camberwell and Penrith facilities, enabling Nikkiso CE&IG to source components quickly when needed. This responsiveness ensures the business can meet tight deadlines and maintain production schedules.
“If we’re really desperate, the team at Capral will help us within three weeks,” he said.
The aluminium extrusions themselves are specialised. For example, a 12-fin extrusion features four key support members with precise diamonds on the ends that slot into matching brackets. Both the extrusions and brackets must be manufactured to exacting tolerances to ensure seamless assembly. Any twisting or imperfection can prevent the system from being assembled correctly or compromise its ability to withstand pressures up to 40 bar.
“A lot of our vaporisers are 100 per cent aluminium, so the quality of the extrusion is really crucial for us,” Born said.
Capral’s ability to produce straight and high-quality extrusions supports Nikkiso CE&IG’s need for precision and reliability, giving engineers confidence that their systems will perform as designed. This partnership is a textbook example of how long-term collaboration can drive both innovation and operational efficiency.
Nothing highlighted the importance of engaging with Australian-based manufacturers such as Capral to Nikkiso CE&IG more than the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Born. During this time, the company produced more than 100 vaporisers to meet surging hospital oxygen demand.
“We were very fortunate that we were still able to get material out of Capral and build to the exact design needed,” he said.
Keeping culture at the heart of manufacturing
The Nikkiso CE&IG team combines experience with fresh talent, creating a culture of learning and continuity. The longest-serving employee has been with the company for nearly 40 years, while apprentices join from high schools and adult learners retrain as tradespeople. Born stresses the importance of giving employees a sense of purpose and connection to the final product.
“One of the things we want our team to understand is that the things they’re making go into some really important industries,” he said.
He draws an analogy to stonemasons building cathedrals: while one worker might see only the bricks, another sees the bigger purpose. This philosophy underpins Nikkiso CE&IG’s focus on quality, safety, and reliability, ensuring that every hospital, refinery, or off-grid power plant receives equipment that meets stringent standards.
For Born, the next 25 years will demand continual evolution. Nikkiso CE&IG’s core values of sustainability and innovation drive both product development and customer service. While vaporisers themselves have not changed radically over the decades, the company has enhanced process modelling, production methods, and ancillary systems to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
“We need to be constantly evolving with the things that we do,” he said.
The company’s confidence in its people, processes, and materials positions it to remain prominent in cryogenic systems and industrial gases. Born describes the satisfaction of taking a concept from design to physical product and seeing it installed around the world – from New Zealand to Africa, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and all states of Australia. This combination of technical mastery, long-term partnerships, and a skilled workforce ensures Nikkiso CE&IG continues to engineer tomorrow’s low-carbon solutions, today.
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