Louisiana approves grassroots methanol complex
IGP Methanol LLC (IGPM), Houston, has secured approval from state regulators to build and operate its proposed 7.2 million-tonne/year Gulf Coast Methanol Complex (GCMC) on a 140-acre parcel adjacent to the Mississippi River near Myrtle Grove in Plaquemines Parish, La.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) issued a Title V air-quality operating permit for the grassroots complex on Jan. 4, IGPM said.
To be developed in four phases, the GCMC, once completed, will include four identical methanol trains, each capable of producing 1.8 million tpy of methanol from natural gas using proprietary methanol-conversion technology licensed by Haldor Topsoe AS, the operator said.
IGPM—which, alongside selection of technology and engineering providers, also has selected project partners for natural gas supply, gas transportation, oxygen and nitrogen supply, as well as storage and loading—additionally will build common services infrastructure for the complex.
GCMC is scheduled to begin production in late 2020, IGPM said.
GCMC overview
Once in operation, GCMC will produce refined methanol from gas, water, and oxygen, which will be sent to dedicated tanks and transferred to associated marine vessel-loading facilities for export.
As part of the project, IGPM will install a product-loading system at the existing dock with a vapor-recovery system to recycle product back to the complex to reduce emissions and provide best-in-class safety, according to IGPM’s web site.
Air emissions from the complex will result primarily from four in-line boilers, four process heaters, one auxiliary boiler, four backup flares (to be used only for startups and shutdowns), five emergency generators, eight ammonia storage tanks, 14 product storage and day tanks, marine-vessel loading, fugitive-emission controls, and wastewater-treatment equipment.
Wherever technologically feasible, control equipment (e.g., tank-vessel scrubbers) will be employed to recover methanol emissions and recycle it back into the process with 95-98% efficiency, while the boiler and related process equipment will emit only substances associated with burning of clean fuel (i.e., natural gas) and small amounts of process gases.
Construction of each $900-million train will last about 26 months, with some overlap of subsequent units, the operator said.
Alongside Haldor Topsoe, IGPM has enlisted a series of project collaborators, including:
• ConocoPhillips, which will supply all gas procurement and deliver gas to plant gates on a guaranteed basis.
• Praxair Inc., which will build, own, operate, and maintain the complex’s air-separation units.
• Veolia Environnement SA, which will build and operate GCMC’s water treatment and wastewater plant.
• Entergy Corp., which will build a dedicated electrical substation at the site.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
