Methanol

Nearly five years into a push to expand in the Pacific Northwest, advocates continue wading through permitting challenges to build natural gas-fed methanol production plants along the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon.

Houston-based Yuhuang Chemical Industries Inc. (YCI) on Thursday clinched an agreement giving Koch Methanol Investments LLC a minority stake in YCI Methanol One LLC, a $1.85 billion production facility under construction in St. James Parish, LA.

IGP Methanol LLC, which has an air permit in hand to build what could be the world’s largest methanol production facility in Plaquemines Parish, LA, on Wednesday added two Chinese partners to help build two plants, each capable of producing 1.8 million tons/year.

FERC has issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC (Transco) for the proposed St. James Supply Project, a methane-to-methanol facility under construction in Louisiana that could produce 1.8 million metric tons/year of commercial-grade methanol.

Houston-based IGP Methanol LLC has been granted an air quality permit for a proposed facility in Plaquemines Parish, LA, which as designed could become the world’s largest methanol production facility.

Once ambitious plans by a Chinese-based consortium to build three methanol production plants in the Pacific Northwest have hit permitting hurdles, the latest because of issues regarding an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a facility planned for Port of Kalama, WA.

Four environmental groups have appealed a shoreline permit for a proposed $1.8 billion methanol manufacturing plant along the Columbia River in southwest Washington, offering the latest potential hurdle to the massive project.

FERC plans to conduct an environmental review of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC’s (Transco) proposed St. James Supply Project, a methane-to-methanol facility under construction in Louisiana that could produce 1.8 million metric tons/year of commercial-grade methanol.

With plentiful North American natural gas continuing, the commitment to develop U.S. methanol production capability and Asian demand remains strong while the pace of U.S. manufacturing plant development has lagged, according to a Chinese-backed consortium developing multiple facilities in the Pacific Northwest.