Gulf Coast Carbon Black Plant Owner Plans 24MW Cogen Addition

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Sid Richardson Carbon & Energy Company (Fort Worth, Texas), a leader in carbon black production, plans the addition of a 24-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired cogen unit addition to provide process steam and electricity for its carbon black plant located in Big Springs, Texas. The total investment value (TIV) of the project is estimated at $28 million, and an engineering and construction firm should be selected by mid-2005 to start preliminary engineering. Construction for the new cogen unit is slated to begin in early 2006, with plans to have it online by the end of that same year.

The new cogen unit addition is just one of several long-term plans to increase productivity at this plant site. Just last year, Sid Richardson completed a plant-wide instrument and control system upgrade, replacing Fisher PLC's with a new Siemens DCS.

The Big Springs plant was constructed in 1961 as Sid Richardson's first carbon black, and then the Addis, Louisiana plant was constructed a few years later, in 1968. Nearly two decades later Richardson's third plant, located in Borger, Texas, was brought online in 1986, enabling Richardson to be a leader in furnace carbon black production. These three plants, Sid Richardson's only North American plants, produce over 800 million pounds of rubber-grade furnace carbon black.

Furnace carbon black is the primary non-rubber component used in manufacturing tires and is the main filler material used in tires, primarily because it has proven to ensure a longer tread life. With the demand of carbon black increasing, production is on the rise, and expansion projects across the nation are substantially increasing and will continue to increase over the next few years.

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