Rain CII Heat Recovery Project for Power Production

SULPHUR, La., Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 9:00 am, Rain CII officially began construction of a Heat Recovery Project at the Rain CII Sulphur, LA plant. Rain CII's expansion will create five new direct industrial jobs while retaining 47 existing jobs. During the project, Rain CII has estimated employing 140 workers during a 14-month construction process. The project represents a $70 million capital investment from Rain CII.

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Rain CII produces more than 2.4 million tons of calcined petroleum coke, which is a necessary raw material used in the aluminum industry and titanium dioxide industry. In addition to producing calcined coke, Rain CII employs state-of-the-art "heat recovery" to cogenerate steam and electricity from its calcining assets in Gramercy, Norco and Chalmette, Louisiana, and Visakhapatnam, India.  

"This investment in heat recovery reinforces our commitment to strategically invest in our assets, and grow our business organically.  Our effort to capture energy already used in our process to produce electric power is a high priority in an age where we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, become more energy efficient, and avoid the effects of greenhouse gases on our environment," said Rain CII CEO Gerry Sweeney.   "It is also a fundamental principle of our company's core values in being environmentally responsible and a good corporate citizen.  This project will produce renewably sourced energy, reduce our emissions, and provide long-term viability for our plant."

Upon implementation, the expansion will allow Rain CII to capture heat that was previously released into the atmosphere and convert it into electricity. Most of the electricity generated will be received by the local power grid for transmission to other users.  The company projects annual production of over 200,000 megawatt-hours of electricity causing a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of over 150,000 tons per year based on the national averages for electric power production.

Rain CII is a leading global producer of calcined petroleum coke (CPC).  The company has 2.4 million tons of annual CPC capacity, representing 10% of the world's production capacity of the product.  CPC is the only source of carbon consumed in the production of aluminum and titanium dioxide.  Louisiana is the largest CPC producing region in the world outside of China, with Rain CII accounting for more than half of Louisiana's CPC production.

Rain CII is the largest US based producer and second largest producer of CPC in the world.  The company converts raw materials, green petroleum coke (GPC), purchased from oil refiners in high temperature kilns producing high purity carbon for competitive export to aluminum smelters and titanium dioxide consumers around the world. Louisiana is home to more than half of the company's US based processing capacity.

Rain CII is dedicated to the core principles of operating its facilities safely, reliably, efficiently and environmentally responsibly while supporting the communities where its employees live and work.  

Rain CII is headquartered in Kingwood, Texas; Stamford, Connecticut; and Hyderabad, India.  Rain CII's operating facilities include locations in Louisiana (4), Mississippi (1), Illinois (1), and West Virginia (1) and affiliated operations in Visakhapatnam, India (1) and Zhenjiang, China (1). Rain CII owns and operates three LA based deep-water shipping terminals and two full-service petroleum coke laboratories, which along with its production plants are all ISO 9001:2008 compliant.

Rain CII contributes more than $9.6 million to local communities in Louisiana each year in payroll, while taxes paid to local communities each year surpass $1.2 million.

SOURCE Rain CII