McDermott International, Inc. (Houston; www.mcdermott.com) announced that it has been awarded a sizeable technology contract by Formosa Chemicals Industries Ningbo Ltd. for the technology license and basic engineering services for a grassroots alpha-methylstyrene (AMS) recovery unit in Ningbo, China. This 10,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) unit will utilize AMS technology jointly licensed by Versalis and McDermott’s Lummus Technology to recover specialty chemicals for niche market sale.
“This award represents the first license of this AMS technology,” said Leon de Bruyn, Senior Vice President of McDermott’s Lummus Technology business. “The commercialization of this technology illustrates the effectiveness of our continuous innovation process. Lummus works to provide our customers market-leading solutions to enhance their competitiveness; the addition of the AMS recovery unit will enable Formosa to recover this specialty chemical with unmatched purity, ultimately enhancing the operating margins while lessening the environmental footprint.”
The award strengthens the ongoing collaboration, dating back to 1995, between the Formosa organization and Lummus Technology. This technology incorporates many decades of operating and design experience by Versalis with Lummus design expertise.