ISP Breathes New Life into Recently Acquired Ohio BDO Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). International Specialty Products (ISP) (Wayne, New Jersey) acquired a BDO (1,4-butanediol) production plant in Lima, Ohio, in March 2005 that was formerly owned and operated by BP, a subsidiary of BP PLC (NYSE:BP) (London, England). ISP is in the early phases of evaluating plans that BP had previously considered for the installation of a second BDO unit at the Lima site.

On July 5, 2005, Industrialinfo.com reported that ISP was reviving BP’s plan to add a second BDO unit at the Lima site. ISP has no plans for expansion of the facility. According to Mel Martin, General Manager for ISP’s Industrial Chemicals, “We are not evaluating options for a second unit. Our total focus is to improve the operating rates of the current facility so that it has the capability to run at its design capacity.”

BP originally constructed the BDO unit in 1999 with a design capacity of 60,000 tons per year, but the unit never produced more than 45,000 tons in any twelve-month period. The unit utilizes BP Amoco/Lurgi AG Geminox technology.

BP continues to operate on its own chemical assets at the Lima site, under its recently spun off company, Innovene.

ISP anticipates that this acquisition will prove to be a successful strategic move, as BDO is a key ingredient that will support its own feedstock requirements as well as the merchant market. Some major markets for BDO include the pharmaceutical, personal care products, coatings, food and beverage, and oil field sectors. ISP also operates a BDP plant in Germany.

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