Alabama Proves that U.S. Deep South has Deep Pockets for Spending on Chemical Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Plans to invest billions of dollars in plant growth projects around the U.S. have centered primarily on the shale formations in the Northeast, the Midwest and the Southwest regions, which produce an inexpensive natural gas. The power-player states of Texas and Louisiana have overshadowed the Southwest reason for some time; however, Industrial Info is tracking 36 Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) projects in Alabama with a potential spending of $1.7 billion.

Close to $1 billion is projected to be spent on the site of Evonik Degussa Corporation's (Parsippany, New Jersey) Mobile plant in Theodore, Alabama. Evonik plans to construct two new units onsite, both of which are expected to be completed in 2015. The larger of the two is a 120,000-ton-per-year methyl methacrylate monomer unit. This $400 million unit has been in the planning stages for years, and should begin construction in the third quarter of next year. The acrolein cyanohydrin acetate unit, the smaller of the two, is expected to begin construction mid-2014 and will be used as an intermediate feed for a new unit Bayer CropScience LP (Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) plans to construct.

Bayer Cropscience expects to build a new unit, with tremendous infrastructure and feed from Evonik to produce the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium. The $400 million plant is expected to be complete by the end of 2015.

Also on the plant site, BASF Corporation (Florham Park, New Jersey) plans to construct a unit to produce chelates that will be operated by Evonik. This unit is on schedule to receive final approval by the end of the year, with plans to begin construction in 2014.

To support all future expansions, Evonik plans to incorporate some major infrastructure upgrades. New roadways, electricity and water will need to be installed before the new units are brought online, to help sustain the additional manufacturing.

There are other companies looking to add capacity to existing plants in Alabama. AlphaPet Incorporated (Asheboro, North Carolina), a subsidiary of Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (Thailand), plans to double capacity of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at its plant in Decatur, Alabama, with the construction of a $120 million unit in 2014. BP America Incorporated (Houston, Texas), a subsidiary of BP plc (NYSE:BP) (London, England), is evaluating the construction of a new purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit at the plant adjacent to AlphaPet to utilize the increased capacity of PET. Both units are expected to be completed in 2016.

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