This week the St. James Parish Council unanimously approved the Koch Methanol complex expansion.
The Optimization Project is a collection of projects planned for Koch Methanol St. James intended to achieve a 25% increase of the facility design production rate from approximately 4,950 to 6,200 metric tons per day of refined methanol, primarily by further optimizing existing plant equipment.
Methanol is used in a variety of projects including adhesives, paint, pharmaceuticals, and plastics.
Other upgrades such as changing piping configurations and improved process monitoring Koch is investing approximately $150 million in the Optimization Project ($50 million in equipment and $100 million in non-capital expenditures, including labor, providing approximately up to 400 temporary jobs), which will provide additional property tax revenue as well as additional sales and use tax benefits, and will generate up to 5 new permanent jobs.
Koch Methanol St. James, LLC owns and operates a state-of-the-art facility located on 1,300 acres in St. James Parish, east of New Orleans, Louisiana. The world-scale facility has the potential to produce about 1.8 million metric tons per year of International Methanol Producers and Consumers Association (IMPCA)-quality methanol.
The facility is designed to allow four modes of product distribution – truck, rail, barge and ocean vessel – and includes a truck and rail terminal. A marine terminal located adjacent to the facility and owned and operated by another company is utilized for barge and ocean vessel transport via the Mississippi River.
