Louisiana Chemical Plants Near Completion of Hurricane Related Repairs Plan Expansion

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated). An estimated 142 operational chemical plants located in Louisiana were in the direct path of hurricanes Katrina & Rita disrupting operations for much of the fourth quarter of 2005. Major Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) companies such as Dow (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan), Air Products (NYSE:APD) (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Dupont (NYSE:DD) (Wilmington, Delaware) and others have come back online, while some are nearing completion of repairing major damage caused by these hurricanes.

E I du Pont de Nemours is nearing completion of repairs to its Pass Christian, Mississippi titanium dioxide (TiO2) plant caused by hurricane Katrina. The Delisle plant has been in operation since 1979 and is home to two TiO2 150,000 ton per year production units that are used to produce pigments from natural ilmenite ore, chlorine and petroleum coke for production of paints, plastics and whitening agents. One of the two units has been confirmed to be back online and is anticipated to be at full capacity within six months.

Once the damage from Katrina has been repaired, E I du Pont will gear up for an expansion expected to cost an estimated $100 million. This expansion will have a dual purpose of reducing emissions and increasing production capacity. More than half of the project investment will be allotted for installing new process equipment to boost production capacity and an estimated $45 million will be spent on new thermal oxidizers, scrubbers and other equipment as a continued effort to reduce emissions. Air emissions will be reduced by 15% and carbonyl sulfide (COS) emissions will be reduced by 31%.

The Taft, Louisiana location of Dow Chemical also had severe damage caused by hurricane Katrina. Both hydrocarbon units No. 1 and No. 2 were offline due to the damage and recently completed repairs and brought both units back online in late December 2005. All four hydrogen production units of Air Products located in New Orleans were affected by hurricane Katrina and major repairs were recently completed to bring these units back online.

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