New Syngas Separation Facility in Louisiana Puts Air Products into CO
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (Lehigh Valley, Pa.) has begun engineering a new $50-million synthesis-gas separation plant it will build, own and operate in Geismar, La., to serve BASF Corp., Shell Chemical, and other petrochemical and refining customers in the area.
When completed in the second half of 1999, the facility will produce 45 million ft3/d of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and syngas. The investment will further expand Air Products' existing H2 pipeline capabilities in the state, and establish the company as a new CO supplier in the region.
The syngas separation unit will be located adjacent to a new acetylene plant BASF is building at its Geismar site. The BASF facility will have an annual capacity of more than 100 million pounds. The Air Products unit will process crude syngas from the acetylene plant (a partial-oxidation process) into H2, CO and syngas for BASF. Gases not used by BASF will be purchased by Air Products and will be supplied to two grassroots facilities Shell is building nearby to manufacture its new Corterra and Carilon polymer product lines.
Steve Losby, area manager for Air Products, says that the plant will have a typical Air Product design, involving a monoethanolamine (MEA) unit to remove CO2, a coldbox to make CO and syngas, and a pressure-swing adsorption unit to purify the H2 stream. The coldbox and PSA unit will be Air Products technology and equipment (See Figure). Overall, the plant will add 30 percent more H2 capacity to the Air Products pipeline.
The plant will have additional capacity for future expansion and for supplying additional products to Air Products' hydrogen pipeline, which runs along the Mississippi River between Plaquemine and New Orleans. The pipeline currently serves a dozen customers with product from seven Air Products hydrogen production plants in the area. The hydrogen pipeline is one of six the company operates worldwide. Air Products' global hydrogen, carbon monoxide and syngas capacity is approaching 900 million ft3/d.