Alabama May See More than $1 Billion in Chemical Construction Starts in 2015

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Alabama could see 35 project kick-offs next year in the Chemical Processing Industry with a combined value of about $1 billion, according to Industrial Info's database. Many of the projects are still in various stages of evaluation and analysis, so some of them may not move forward.

With an estimated cost of $400 million, Evonik's (Essen, Germany) potential 120,000-tonne-per-year methyl methacrylate (MMA) expansion at its Theodore site in Mobile stands above the rest in terms of investment value.

View Project Report - 4002271

Evonik, which announced in 2012 it was considering Mobile as the site for the expansion, was performing an economic evaluation for the project. If given final approval, construction would kick off in third-quarter 2015, with completion in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Industrial Info. A final decision is expected in January.

If it goes forward, the new facility would employ 100 employees and use Evonik's AVENEER technology, which the company describes as an environmentally friendly manufacturing process for MMA, which is based on ammonia, methane, acetone and methanol, without using sulfuric acid.

For related information, see September 26, 2013, article--Alabama Proves that U.S. Deep South has Deep Pockets for Spending on Chemical Plants.

Next in potential investment size is Akermin Incorporated's (St. Louis, Missouri) commercial-scale CO2 capture plant at Wilson, which was estimated at $150 million. The Wilson site was home to Akermin's pilot CO2 capture plant, which used biocatalysts to capture CO2 from the flue gas exhaust of a coal-fired power plant. However, the company's market analysis for the project was scheduled to run through the third quarter of this year, according to Industrial Info's database, and the company has made no further announcements regarding building such a plant at the Wilsonville site.

View Project Report - 300148652

BP plc's (NYSE:BP) (London, England) purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit addition at Decatur comes in third at $120 million in total investment value. BP reportedly was performing a market analysis for the project earlier this year. If it moves forward, construction would kick off in third-quarter 2015, with completion in the first quarter of 2016.

BP's Decatur plant would provide feedstock to a nearby 1.2 billion-pound-per-year polyethylene terephthalate (PET) unit addition project that was announced by AlphaPet, a subsidiary of Indorama Ventures (Bangkok, Thailand). The AlphaPet project has a total investment value of $190 million and was undergoing project justification, with construction estimated to start in the second quarter of 2016 and completion in the first quarter of 2018.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.