IGP Methanol LLC (IGPM), Houston, has let a contract to CB&I, Houston, to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for work related to construction of its proposed 7.2 million-tonne/year Gulf Coast Methanol Complex (GCMC) on a 140-acre parcel next to the Mississippi River near Myrtle Grove in Plaquemines Parish, La. (OGJ Online, Jan. 8, 2018).
The FEED contract, which also includes terms for exclusive selection of CB&I for the engineering, procurement, and construction of each of the complex’s four identical methanol trains, will be used to produce a binding lump-sum price contract for GCMC’s construction, the service provider said.
CB&I did not reveal a value of the contract.
This latest contract follows IGPM’s previous award to Haldor Topsoe AS to deliver engineering and technology licensing for GCMC’s four identical 1.8 million-tpy methanol plants that will be equipped with Haldor Topsoe’s proprietary SynCOR methanol technology, including supply of proprietary state-of-the-art catalysts and equipment (OGJ Online, Feb. 2, 2018).
Awarded its Title V air-quality operating permit by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality on Jan. 4., the grassroots complex will be developed in four phases and, once completed, 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.
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.
IGPM—which 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.
Alongside CB&I and 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.
GCMC is scheduled to begin production in late 2020.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
