Air Liquide celebrates inauguration of new production facility in Port Allen, Louisiana
Published on May 07, 2024
2 minutes
Air Liquide recently held an inauguration ceremony to celebrate the opening of a new Large Modular Air Separation Unit (LMA) facility in Port Allen, Louisiana. The new facility is one of three LMA ASUs constructed in Louisiana to supply oxygen, nitrogen and utilities to methanol plant expansion projects in the area, significantly increasing production capacity in the US Gulf Coast region while securing the Basin’s customer base. The new unit is designed to produce 2,500 tons per day of oxygen and will supply oxygen, nitrogen, and utilities. With the newer and larger capacity LMA plants, Air Liquide is optimizing energy consumption, using 25% less electricity to make each ton of oxygen output.
From conception to reality, the completion of a project is no simple feat, but challenges from Mother Nature to the pandemic did not deter the teams from completing construction safely.
Alain Le Roux, Senior Vice President, Capital Implementation stated at the inauguration, “The plant construction took about 600,000 hours in the field, the equivalent of 300 people working every day for a year, safely with ZERO recordables or injuries! Moreover, the plant was built through Hurricane Ida, through record storms and rain in the summer of 2022, not to mention Covid-19. An epic story of safe work and team perseverance, and an epic thank you to our teams”.
At Air Liquide, our ambition is to bring the best to our valued customers. We have remained dedicated to improving and building upon our operations to serve our customers safely, reliably – and in an environmentally sustainable way – so they can continue to operate safely with greater efficiency and productivity.
Andrew Garnett, President, Large Industries North America said: “The completion of this new large production unit signifies our continued commitment to meet the growing needs of our customers here along the Mississippi River and to this region. Air Liquide’s significant investment to enhance its infrastructure in the Baton Rouge and Geismar Basins further demonstrates its commitment to energy efficiency, its collaborative approach to meeting the needs of customers, and highlights its outlook for the robust growth of industry in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S.”
The event was a celebration of all the dedication and hard work from the Air Liquide employees involved in the project, construction, maintenance and operation of the Port Allen LMA. Thank you to all those involved for making this day possible and for demonstrating your commitment to safety and operational excellence every day!
