Great Lakes Chemical Plant Owners Stay Afloat with $1.7 Billion in Planned Future Spending

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--It is no secret the Great Lakes region of the United States has been one of the hardest hit by the economic downturn in North America. Despite the collapse of the Automotive Industry and the resulting domino effect, there are still 150 future Chemical Processing Industry (CPI) projects actively planned for the region, adding up to almost $1.7 billion in total investment value (TIV).

The Great Lakes region is composed of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Of these six states, Indiana leads the pack in total future spending with 25 active projects valued at nearly $628 million in capital and maintenance spending. The most significant contribution in the state at the moment will be planned hydrogen unit additions by Praxair Incorporated (NYSE:PX) (Danbury, Connecticut) at its Whiting plant, which are already under construction and are expected to be completed by mid-2010 with an estimated TIV of $300 million.

Although only a small amount of the future overall project activity, there are four grassroot plants currently planned in the Great Lakes. Their contribution is considerable, totaling about $307 million. ForeverGreen Enterprises Incorporated (Clifton, New Jersey) is planning to begin construction on a waste-to-hydrogen grassroot plant in the first quarter of 2010 in Butler, Indiana. The environmentally friendly plant is expected to be complete by the end of 2011 and will cost an estimated $227 million. Air Products & Chemicals Incorporated (NYSE:APD) (Allentown, Pennsylvania) is already in the engineering phases of a $50 million hydrogen plant planned for Detroit, Michigan. Construction is expected to begin early next year.

Almost 40% of all the future project activity in the Great Lakes region is for planned plant turnarounds. There are currently 63 active plant maintenance turnarounds valued $160 million in the CPI's North American Project Database.

Although not considered a core segment of the CPI, the United States Department of Energy's new American Centrifuge plant in Piketon, Ohio, will be home to several potential projects in the next few years, totaling nearly $7.5 billion. This figure includes a $5 billion decontamination and decommissioning project that is expected to start construction around October 2010, as well as several phases of construction to complete the American Centrifuge plant by the end of 2012. Plans include a cylinder-storage area and installation of centrifuges and piping. While the plant is already under construction, it is possible that even the U.S.-funded plants may fall victim to the down economy and could either be put on hold or cancelled completely.

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