Leading the Charge on Rapidly Emerging Refrigerant Market Growth
CryoGas International | October 2015 | Vol. 53, No. 10
A Special Report from Gas Innovations
To support burgeoning hydrocarbon refrigerant markets, Gas Innovations® has expanded its capability to supply refrigerant gases to LNG and FLNG liquefaction plants worldwide.
The unprecedented economic success of US shale gas has created seemingly unending ripples for numerous industries — and economies — across the globe. For Gas Innovations, one of only two companies in North America solely focused on purifying and packaging hydrocarbon, specialty gas, and welding consumable products, the significant cost advantages to producing natural gas have resulted in the ability to produce and package great quantities of ethylene.
The assurance of supply for this key refrigerant in making cryogenic natural gas has greatly increased the ease with which natural gas producers across the globe can liquefy and then transport their own feedstock supplies.
“We’re supplying projects from the US Gulf Coast to Australia’s Coral Coast and spots in between,” said Ashley Madray, Vice President and Co-founder of Gas Innovations. “With companies building more plants and LNG increasingly recognized as a viable power source, our expanded capabilities to store and package hydrocarbon refrigerants mean that these projects can, in turn, expand. And we’ve already seen how far-reaching the benefits can be.”
Gas Innovations has added a third bulk storage tank at its Texas facility, increasing its storage capacity from 24,000 to more than 40,000 gallons. This increased inventory allows the company to fill ocean-going ISO containers with on-site volume, alone. And the enhanced storage at its facility is already being utilized to address large-scale needs.
The company is currently in the midst of a project to load 25 5,000-gallon liquid ISOs of ethylene to ship to Africa, where an effort is underway to restart a LNG plant there. They are also concurrently servicing a large project in Australia, supplying sufficient quantities of ethane to start a massive plant that will liquefy and ready for transport the significant stores of native natural gas. This project, in turn, will make shipment of LNG to Japan — as one answer to that country’s energy woes — more economically viable.
“With this security of supply, the sky’s the limit,” Madray said. “There are numerous applications for our mixed refrigerants locally, but we can also now take this product and this service to developing downstream oil and gas markets across the world. So our local expertise is also exportable.”
The company is also innovating with other growing needs for ethylene and similar natural gases. Throughout the Gulf Coast, Gas Innovations is involved with numerous pipeline-interruption projects, both at the industrial and residential level. For smaller processing plants making ethylene product derivatives, Gas Innovations is able to step in to assist in the event of a major feed stock pipeline interruption due to maintenance, damage, safety or other causes. The company is able to supply ethylene during a period of curtailment by simply plugging into the plant’s pipeline on the downside of its interruption — supplying them with additional product. The solution is low risk and has the potential to save millions of dollars a day in wasted productivity.
On the residential side, Gas Innovations was able to help with natural gas supply to a newly built Texas neighborhood. With building completed, residents began moving into their newly constructed homes, but the local utility company was weeks behind schedule for hooking up the natural gas line. Gas Innovations was able to quickly intervene, connect to the line, and supply the community with odorized natural gas for the duration of the service interruption.
Gas Innovations, founded in 2002 at the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel in La Porte, Texas, is the leading supplier of high-purity hydrocarbons, propylene, propane, and specialty gases, along with a complete line of cutting, heating and Kobelco welding consumables. Powered by 62 employees, the company goal and steadfast backbone is to always provide industrial gas producers and distributors a dependable, independent wholesale supply partner.
“We want to strengthen our business model, not dilute it, and strive to continue improving our customer service and not take our customers for granted,” Madray said. “And no matter what, we want to continue to strengthen the team we have built.”