Continental Carbon Company Commits to Long-Term Energy Recovery Projects with Steam Sales Agreement to Valero Energy
HOUSTON, Texas (June 24, 2010) – As part of a long-term strategy to invest in energy recovery projects, Continental Carbon Company today announced a 10-year agreement to supply steam from the company’s Sunray, Texas, carbon black manufacturing plant to Valero Energy’s nearby McKee Refinery.
Steam will be produced from the utilization of carbon black production tail gases, with up to 175,000 pounds per hour of steam to be provided to the refinery starting in November of 2011.
In addition to the steam system, the company also plans to upgrade the Sunray plant’s production process and equipment to allow manufacturing of low-grit, clean blacks that can bring higher value in the market place.
For Continental Carbon’s other two carbon black manufacturing plants, located at Phenix City, Ala and Ponca City, Okla, the company plans to recover energy derived from the production process and convert this energy to electricity by building power cogeneration facilities. Approximately 18 megawatts of electrical power will be available from this process starting in late 2011.
The Ponca City plant team also is investigating the feasibility of adding a steam generation system and delivering steam to nearby users.
“This commitment of more than $60 million of energy recovery projects at our U.S. manufacturing plants represents a major step toward energy efficiency and self-reliance, thus ensuring the company’s future viability and competitiveness,” commented Kim K.T. Pan, president of Continental Carbon Company. “The added advantage derived from these projects is the overall reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases – a real positive contribution to the betterment of our environment.“
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