Total opens special-fluids plant in Houston
Published:Tuesday | March 8, 2016 | 12:00 AM
HOUSTON, Texas:
Total SA yesterday officially inaugurated the production of the company's new high-purity special fluids facility in Bayport, Texas. The ribbon-cutting represented the completion of a US$100 million investment by the global integrated energy producer and leading international oil and gas organisation.
Total's Bayport hydro de-aromatisation (HDA) plant, the second in the world - modeled on a similar facility in France - will produce a range of 40 different high-purity special fluids for customer use across a wide spectrum of industry including pharmaceuticals, crop protection, water treatment, printing inks, paints and coatings and cosmetics.
With an annual production capacity of 250 kilo ton, and ideally situated to supply the biggest markets in the world, the Bayport facility will also produce synthetic biodegradable fluids, for on- and off-shore drilling, in keeping with Total's commitment to the use of clean drilling fluids for exploration and production operations.
COMMITMENT TO BUSINESS
"Our new Bayport operation illustrates Total's commitment to our business in the United States," said Philippe Boisseau, member of the executive committee of Total and president of marketing and services.
"We will work closely with the Total refining facility in Port Arthur, which will provide some of the feedstock required to produce the high-purity special fluids our customers want and need, as well as the Total Polyethylene facility at Bayport with whom we share the site."
The Bayport HDA plant utilises a catalytic reaction process that, when combined with high pressure and distillation, enables the production of very specific high purity fluids, odourless, colourless, stable and with ultra-low aromatic contents. These high purity fluids are customised to meet the needs of a wide variety of industrial applications.
Total's Bayport opening comes just weeks after the opening of a multi-million dollar innovation center in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Total's automotive and aerospace company Hutchinson.