Flurry of Construction Activity Surrounds BP Chemicals' Hull Works Site in England

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last year, construction on two plants began at the Hull Works plant site of BP Chemicals Limited (London, England), a subsidiary of BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London), in Kingston-upon-Hull, England. Like so many chemical producers in Europe, BP found itself looking for ways to profit from the very sizeable infrastructure maintained at the site, while the prospects of growth became increasingly limited.

The site soon will be home to two new plants, each independently owned and operated, yet sharing synergies such as feedstock, utilities and infrastructure from the existing BP chemical plant.

Vivergo Fuels Limited (Kingston-upon-Hull) is constructing a bioethanol plant at the site that will produce an estimated 420 million liters per year of bioethanol, with more than 500,000 metric tons per year of dried distillers grains from wheat feedstock. Mechanical construction for this plant began earlier this year under the direction of engineering and consluting firm Aker Solutions E&C Limited (Norway). The project is expected to be mechanically complete by the end of the year with commercial operations beginning in early 2011.

The second new plant for the site is being built by Kingston Research Limited (Kingston-upon-Hull) to produce nearly 20,000 liters per year of biobutanol. This new plant will demonstrate the biofuel technology to prepare for commercial-scale production in the future. Kingston Research, a joint venture effort of E.I. DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD) (Wilmington, Delaware) and BP, was formed to focus on the commercialization of biofuel technology. One of the most attractive potentials for the future use of biobutanol is the ability to blend higher ratios of the product in petroleum fuels quickly, and the potential ease of converting existing bioethanol refineries to produce the product with minimal process technology changes. Construction of this new plant began last summer, and, based on current schedules, the startup of the new plant could begin later this year.

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