Dubai-based MEGlobal International FZE, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s first international petrochemical joint venture Equate Petrochemical Co., has let a long-term contract to Praxair Inc., Danbury, Conn., to supply industrial gases to its monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant now under construction at Dow Chemical Co.'s currently expanding Oyster Creek petrochemical complex in Freeport, Tex. (OGJ Online, Mar. 28, 2016).
As part of the contract, Praxair will build an air separation unit (ASU) that will deliver oxygen and nitrogen to MEGlobal’s plant for use in the MEG manufacturing process, the service provider said.
Alongside the ASU—which also will supply oxygen, nitrogen, and argon to Praxair’s expanded industrial gas pipeline system to other US Gulf Coast customers—the project will include construction of a carbon dioxide purification and liquefaction plant.
Praxair said it plans to deliver CO2 from the purification plant to a variety of industrial customers in the region, including those in the food and beverage industry, where the gas supplies are used to carbonate drinks, as well as to freeze, chill, preserve, and package food, the company said.
Both the ASU and CO2 purification plant are due for startup in 2019, Praxair said.
The company, however, disclosed no details regarding either the value of its contract with MEGlobal or proposed capacities of the industrial gas units.
First announced in March, MEGlobal’s grassroots EG plant will use Dow’s proprietary METEOR ethylene oxide-ethylene glycol (EO-EG) process technology to produce of 700,000-tonnes/year of product from ethylene feedstock it receives from Dow’s Oyster Creek complex (OGJ Online, July 8, 2016).
The MEG plant, which will be MEGlobal’s first in the US, remains on schedule for startup in mid-2019.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
