Air Liquide's $150 Million Geismar Project Nears Completion

Air Liquide America Corp. (Houston, TX) is putting the finishing touches on phase one of its new $150 million air separation and cogeneration complex in Geismar, LA. It completed its 80 MW cogen plant ahead of schedule, and the unit is producing power and steam. It is also only a few weeks away from opening the first of two air separation units (ASUs).

The unit, Air Liquide's largest single US industrial investment, will primarily serve BASF Corp.'s adjacent plant with oxygen, nitrogen and process steam under a long-term contract.

The new plant will supply 5200 t/d of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases into the company's Baton Rouge-New Orleans pipeline, which will carry material to BASF's facility. It will also supply liquid oxygen, nitrogen, and argon for merchant distribution. The cogen plant will power the ASUs and provide steam to BASF and neighboring chemical facilities.

"We are pleased to be completing this project with speed, efficiency and safety," says Air Liquide Process and Construction CEO David Kamrath. "This is exactly why, on a global scale, we are designing and building more projects with larger capacities than anyone in the industry today."

Other key Air Liquide facilities include Bayport, TX; Orange, TX; Port Neches, TX; Fort Saskatchewan, AB; and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

By Alan S. Brown