Paris-based Air Liquide says it plans to build a $170 million plant in St. James Parish to provide oxygen to a planned $1.85 billion methanol manufacturing facility that was announced in July of last year.
Air Liquide is building the plant because it has been selected by Chinese petrochemical company Yuhuang Chemical Inc. as the oxygen supplier for its methanol plant. Construction on the methanol plant—which, at production of 5,000 tonnes per day, will be among the largest such facilities by capacity in the country—is set to begin in 2016, with the first $750 million phase of the project expected to come online in 2018.
Air Liquide says it will provide Yuhuang Chemical with about 2,400 tonnes of oxygen per day under its agreement. To do so, the company will build a new Air Separation Unit that produces oxygen, nitrogen and argon. The ASU will be connected to the company’s existing pipeline infrastructure in Louisiana, and it’s expected to be commissioned by the second half of 2017.
“Our new agreement with Air Liquide for our first world-scale methanol unit in the U.S. will be integral in supporting our ambition of becoming a global player in the petrochemical industry,” says Yuhuang Chemical CEO Charlie Yao in a press release issued today.
Air Liquide also recently signed a contract with the Chinese firm to license its trademarked MegaMethanol process technology to the company. The technology converts natural gas to methanol and is part of Air Liquide’s proprietary technology portfolio.
Financial terms were not disclosed for either of the deals between the companies regarding the St. James projects.
