CHANNELVIEW, TX-Prompted by low natural gas prices, LyondellBassell has restarted a methanol plant it had shut down in 2004.
A decade ago, the Houston-based company shut the plant, which can produce 780,000 tons of methanol per year, due to soaring natural gas prices at the time.
The Gulf Coast plant transforms natural gas into methanol, a material used to manufacture acetic acid and formaldehyde. It is also used in adhesives, foams, plywood, solvents and windshield washer fluid, and it can be used as a direct replacement for gasoline in cars, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“The methanol plant restart is the first in a series of U.S. Gulf Coast projects by LyondellBasell to take advantage of the natural gas price advantage that we enjoy from shale gas,” states Patrick Quarles, senior vice president of intermediates and derivatives for LyondellBasell. “The methanol plant project and our other significant debottleneck projects will bring new capacity into our system earlier and at substantially lower cost than constructing entirely new facilities.” See story in the Houston Chronicle.
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
