Yuhuang Chemical Starts Construction on Louisiana Methanol Plant

Yuhuang Chemical has begun construction on a 1.8 million mt/year methanol plant that the company expects to start in the fourth quarter of 2019, the company said.

The plant would rank as the largest in the US, ahead of the 1.75 million mt/year Natgasoline methanol plant expected to start up in Beaumont, Texas, in the fourth quarter of this year.

"The project is scheduled to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2019, when the facility will begin distributing methanol by truck, rail, barge and ocean vessels," the company said in a statement.

Yuhuang Chemical plans to distribute domestically and export the balance to European and Chinese markets, the company said.

The company completed financing of the project in March with $800 million from a group of banks. Construction of the site had started in January, the company said.

The plant will be a methane-to-methanol plant engineered by Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions.