MOSCOW (MRC) -- Air Liquide said on Wednesday that it has agreed with Methanex Corp. to supply oxygen, nitrogen and utilities to its upcoming methanol plant expansion project at Geismar, Louisiana, reported Chemweek.
Air Liquide will invest more than USD270 million in two new large air separation units (ASUs) and infrastructure assets connected to its Mississippi River pipeline, and significantly increase its production capacity in the US Gulf Coast region to serve Methanex and its other customers in the industrial basin that encompases Geismar and Baton Rouge.
To support the levels of oxygen and nitrogen needed at Methanex’s third methanol plant at Geismar, as well as other customers along its Mississippi River pipeline system, Air Liquide will build two new ASUs with a capacity of 2,500 metric tons/day of oxygen each - increasing the company’s Mississippi River pipeline’s capacity by more than 25%.
The new ASUs are expected to start production in mid-2022 to support Methanex’s production of methanol.
"Air Liquide’s significant investment to support… Methanex and enhance our infrastructure in the Geismar Basin further demonstrates our global commitment to energy efficiency, our collaborative approach to meeting the needs of customers, and highlights our outlook for the robust growth of industry in the Gulf Coast region of the US," said Michael Graff, executive vice president and executive committee member of Air Liquide.
As MRC informed before, in April 2018, Air Liquide signed a new long-term agreement with LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, to supply oxygen to LyondellBasell’s new large-scale petrochemical plant which will be constructed in Channelview, Texas.
Besides, in July 2019, Air Liquide signed a long-term agreement with Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV), a 50/50 joint venture between ExxonMobil and SABIC, to supply oxygen and nitrogen from its industrial gas pipeline network to GCGV’s planned ethane cracker facility located near Corpus Christi, in Texas.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 796,120 tonnes in January-July 2019, up by 11% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
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