New Formaldehyde Plant Project

Project Description: The Borden Chemicals, Inc. Formaldehyde Plant Project completed by Pala-Interstate, LLC. presented new challenges and opportunities for Pala-Interstate and it's project staff. The Formaldehyde Plant was a Design build Project that involved the installation of the civil, structural, equipment, and piping for two Formaldehyde units. The project also included tank farms, roads, offices, load out facilities and a rail spur to accommodate the storage and distribution needs of three Formaldehyde units. With a final price tag of $8,140,000 and Pala self performing just over 68% of all work, the plant started up two weeks ahead of schedule and flawlessly.

The Borden Chemical Inc. facility upon completion, was designed to produce 600,000 pounds of 50% concentrated formaldehyde and 1,800,000 pounds of UFC. Distribution of the product was to be handled through pipeline, trucking and rail cars.

Bringing in the fill

The plant is located on the Mississippi River Road near Geismar, Louisiana. The site started out as a nine acre grass field with a few small tacks and miscellaneous concrete pads that had to be demolished and removed. Approximately 24,000 tons of fill material was brought in and spread to raise four acres of the site an additional four feet. Shortly after this was accomplished the site was put on hold while Borden Chemicals addressed permit issues. Pala began to construct off satellites that would be used to bring raw materials into the plant and deliver product to surrounding clients while the EPA/DEQ permit issues were being handled.

Flying tank

The completion of the permit issues took five moths to complete. This loss of five months left Borden Chemicals in a very difficult position. The first option, sliding the completion schedule back five months would mean having to truck in product from Arkansas to fulfill it's contractual obligations to its clients. The other option was to crunch the construction schedule by five months.

Pile driving started August 30; two days after the permits were issued. By the end of September, slabs were being formed and poured, To gain eight weeks on the schedule, field erected tanks were being built on site, next to the pads that were being constructed for their final destination. By the end of October the majority of the structural steel was in place and piping began.

November brought with it the majority of the equipment that would have to be set, including two reactors, a catalytic incinerator and a one hundred ten foot absorber column that was field dressed on rollers to reduce schedule impact.

lsbl #1 from east side	Rail form loading	Second road crossing from the
Truss on the ground with pipe installed	Flying the truss	Piperack civil

Pala-Interstate, LLC - Diversified Construction Services
Baton Rouge, LA (225) 272-5194 | New Orleans, LA (504) 468-1489 | La Porte, TX (281) 470-7252