Yuhuang Chemical lets contract for Louisiana methanol complex

Feb. 6, 2017
Yuhuang Chemical Inc. (YCI), a subsidiary of China’s Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. Ltd. (SYCC), has let a contract to a division of Amec Foster Wheeler PLC (AFW) to supply an auxiliary boiler for YCI’s proposed $1.85-billion methanol manufacturing complex now under construction along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, La.

Yuhuang Chemical Inc. (YCI), a subsidiary of China’s Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. Ltd. (SYCC), has let a contract to a division of Amec Foster Wheeler PLC (AFW) to supply an auxiliary boiler for YCI’s proposed $1.85-billion methanol manufacturing complex now under construction along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, La. (OGJ Online, July 18, 2014).

AFW’s global power group will design and deliver a fully assembled 580,000-lb/hr steam generator that will provide the equivalent of about 60 Mw of high-pressure steam for the first phase of YCI’s St. James methanol project, AFW said.

In addition to the natural gas-fired auxiliary boiler, AFW’s scope of delivery will includes the fan, ductwork, combustion system, as well as heat-recovery and selective-catalytic reduction equipment necessary to meet emissions requirements, the service provider said.

A value of the contract was not disclosed.

This latest contract follows YCI’s previous award to AFW for engineering, procurement, early construction services, and project management for Phase 1 of the grassroots complex, which will include a 1.7 million-tonne/year methanol plant due for startup in early 2018 (OGJ Online, Sept. 16, 2015).

Scheduled to be fully commissioned within 10 years, the $1.85-billion complex will host two methanol plants with a combined capacity of 3 million tpy, as well as a methanol derivatives plant for production of intermediate chemicals, YCI said.

While YCI plans to export most of the complex’s methanol production by oceangoing vessels for use in SYCC’s production of downstream chemicals in China, about 20-30% will be shipped by barge and rail to be sold to North American markets, according to the operator (OGJ Online, Feb. 11, 2015).

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].