Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com) has announced its intent to explore plans to construct a methanol production unit at the company’s Bishop, Tex., facility.
Celanese is preparing to apply for the necessary environmental construction permits for a methanol unit with an expected annual capacity of 1.3 million tons at the company’s Bishop facility. Construction of this unit in Bishop would be subject to receipt of economic incentives from government authorities. The methanol unit would utilize abundant, low-cost natural gas in the U.S. Gulf Coast region as a feedstock and would benefit from the existing infrastructure at the site.
The Bishop methanol unit would be similar in scope and scale to the methanol unit under construction at the company’s Clear Lake, Tex., integrated chemical plant. Celanese would also consider a joint venture structure for the Bishop methanol unit in a similar fashion to the joint-venture methanol unit currently being constructed at the Clear Lake plant.
The company’s Bishop facility manufactures specialty chemicals, engineered materials and pharmaceutical products. The plant, which operates continuously, has been recognized as a global leader in environmental, health and safety performance by numerous industry, state and federal organizations. Products manufactured at the Bishop facility include Celcon acetal copolymer, formaldehyde and GUR ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.