Air Liquide will invest more than $270 million to enhance its operations in Louisiana to help fulfill an agreement with Methanex Corp. to supply oxygen, nitrogen and utilities to its upcoming methanol plant expansion project in Geismar.
To serve Methanex and its other customers in the Geismar and Baton Rouge area, the Paris-based industrial gases company will invest in two new large air separation units and infrastructure assets connected to its Mississippi River Pipeline.
To support the levels of oxygen and nitrogen needed at Methanex’s third methanol plant in Geismar, as well as other customers along its Mississippi River Pipeline System, each of Air Liquide’s new air separation units will feature capacity of 2,500 tons per day of oxygen, increasing the company’s Mississippi River Pipeline’s supply capacity by more than 25%.
“Air Liquide’s significant investment to support this new endeavor by 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 U.S,” said Michael J. Graff, executive vice president, Air Liquide Group, in a statement.
The new units are expected to start production in mid-2022.
