Sulfuric Acid Producers See Slight Market Improvements

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). General Chemical Corporation (OTC BB: GNMP) (Parsippany, New Jersey) is planning to increase the production capacity of sulfuric acid at its Newark, New Jersey plant as a result of plans to close its sulfuric acid plant in Claymont, Delaware called the Delaware Valley Works.

Plans for the Newark site include the installation of a new absorption tower, late this summer, followed by modifications and upgrades of the furnace area and retrofit of the economizer being discussed for 2004. A new distributed control system (DCS) will also be studied and evaluated as part of a long-term growth plan at the site.

General Chemical announced the closure of the Delaware Valley Works plant earlier this year and current plans indicate production of sulfuric acid will cease in September of this year. Some small specialty acid production units and the warehousing operations will remain open and operational despite the sulfuric acid unit closures.

"We saw a reduction in the amount of capital and maintenance spending related to sulfuric acid units over the last two years as their primary end market, phosphate fertilizers, drastically curtailed production. Recent improvements in the fertilizer segment including greatly improved operating rates signal a positive turn for sulfuric acid producers," commented Trey Hamblet, Chemical Group Manager with Industrialinfo.com.

Click the image to the right to view the top three sulfuric acid projects reported this year well as an analysis by state and kick-off year month of the sulfuric acid projects identified for 2003 and 2004.

Industrialinfo.com has identified fifteen (15) individual capital and maintenance projects planned to kick-off starting this year and next year totaling just over $100 million in total investment value (TIV). The average TIV for these projects is approximately $6 million with over half of the projects starting construction in October and beyond of this year.